Where The Journey Ends
by aotakuperson123
Summary: Ino's future self comes to the past to warn her of a war that kills everyone . So now Ino must befriend Naruto and Kiba in order to stop it, while doing so they realize the ninja system is completely flawed and prejudiced so they end up leaving , bringing an unlikely redhead along with them.
1. Chapter One

She didn't know what or where she was, it seemed she had no physical form ...she just, was. She could see, hear and smell but she knew that she was not. She was not something or someone . From what she could tell she was in a room, at the end of a room and on the other end of the room is a thing. A thing she knew to call a baby. The baby had short tufts of blonde hair , icy blue eyes and it was small and chubby looking but it didn't move like she somehow knew a baby should, it sat still and unmoving as if it was merely a shell and someone needed to enter it. She needed to enter it.

"I can't let you get into that baby. " A voice . It was low and hoarse but it was a females voice . She could see the person next to her or not so next to her since she did not have a physical form. The person was kind of tall, they had long blond hair in a pony tail and icy blue eyes like the baby, this girl looked torn and worn out, weak even. "My name Is Ino yamanaka and so are you . At least you will be, no well ,you would have been...I'm sorry but I'm not gonna let you be born , I'm taking your place. " A strange kind of panic erupted within her. What was this Ino talking about. She tried to voice some of her thoughts.

"Where is this place?"

Ino furrowed her brows. " hard to explain. Your in the womb,You've yet to be born yet or conceived into the outside world. This is just where you'll stay until your mother goes into labour. In a few days ,you'll know when, one of us just has to allow ourselves to become one with that body, it's going to be me, "

"if it's you then what'll happen to me? "

"you'll cease to exist , you won't BE anymore. "

"if it's me that's supposed to become, to be , then why are you taking my place? "

Ino yelled. " you don't deserve it!!! "

"who are you to decide that!?"

"I need to do this i need a second chance!!!"

SHE grew angry. She desperately wanted to know what it was like to BE , what it was like to exist, this person was going to take that away.

"how do you know? How do you know I don't deserve to exist, what have i ever done!? "

Ino grew livid. "that's just the thing you've never DONE anything!!! You wasted away at the academy ! Your proud of little textbook skills and never bothered to train or make something of yourself. You let Sakura surpass you, you couldn't save your sensei! All we did was Pine over that Uchiha and when FINALLY we got over him! You let the people that you love most in the world die!! Because you couldn't do anything to help, you were weak!!! " Ino cried .

"I don't understand , I didn't do any of these things, " She felt a strange sense of guilt and sadness , who were all those random names?

Ino sighed. "I'll show you, what you did, "

Ino walked out the room and SHE followed somehow. They ended in up something she knew to call water, Ino was swimming but SHE just WAS.

They stopped and an Image appeared , she saw a boy, blonde, same age as Ino and he looked 'NOT' he was beaten and battered in the middle of a raining battlefield of a bunch of other people that was ' NOT' .

"That boy," Ino spoke . "He's everything to us , to me, his name's Naruto Uzumaki, he's amazing and kind and so strong and brave the world has never once deserved him and he's dead now! "

SHE felt strange , that boy was someone important to her that she would die for but she didn't know him.

The image changed and though it was the same battlefield She no longer saw the blonde boy, another boy the same age as Naruto, with brown hair and red fang marks on his cheeks , he was also 'NOT'

His head lay on the lap of a redheaded girl, she 'WAS' . The redheaded girl stared at his face and cried, her tears dripping onto his forehead as she stifled sobs.

"That's Kiba and Tayuya, he is her everything and they make up the rest of my precious people, Tayuya is my best friend despite meeting in rather challenging circumstances, her and Kiba and Naruto they made me more than I was and I dug their grave because WE were lazy and selfish and weak! Kiba's dead , so is Naruto and Tayuya will have to live on without him, without ever seeing the life they planned together, we planned together! "

SHE felt horrible, SHE wanted to help.

SHE spoke. " this is the future, it's because of me? "

Ino nodded.

"then I'm sorry, "

"what?? "

"please take my place, please be born, "

Ino's tired face tensed. " your just letting me? "

"these people , I don't know them but they hold me very highly just by looking I know how much they care for me and for me to have caused them pain...is unforgivable. So please...if you can do anything to not let that happen then I beg you please take my place! "

Ino's face looked conflicted before it softened. "if you had a physical form, I'd punch you, so hard.

She was confused. "why,I'm letting you take my existence!? "

"just listen closely. "

"first of all. Naruto Uzumaki! When your born find him as soon as your able. Protect and be his friend because he will need someone. "

"wait why are y-"

"I said don't interrupt me! "

"secondly, find Kiba Inuzuka, Naruto will need him by his side, we will all need him by ourside. Tayuya will join us eventually , pay attention to one Jiraiya of the Sannin, look out for a Sakura Haruno and... "

Ino's voice trailed. "look out for Sasuke Uchiha , he started that whole war with some help but...I don't know if he's a good or bad person, Naruto and Kiba will decide. "

"your going to let me exist? "

"I am, I was being selfish before. I'm sorry. "

"thank you, "

"I can't risk telling you too much , things might change too badly but be very careful at the chuunin exams, don't trust Kabuto, Gaara is good and...at least shoulder lenght hair or braid it, no frilly little skirts and train hard. "

Ino stopped to think. " Naruto's father is one those stone faces. Think about Naruto's birthday and you'll figure the rest out. Um...also! It's called gender equality so don't go punching Naruto into walls unless he can hit back. Uh...no diets ! Ninjas don't need them and don't try to change Naruto's color scheme if he likes the color you have no right judging it but get him home cooked meals cuz ramen is not good nutrition. Uh...let's see...be nicer to Shikamaru and Chouji. "

SHE had no idea what future her was saying but she would do her absolute best.

"I promise , I promise you Ino I'll make things right, Kiba , Naruto and Tayuya and me , we'll have a happily ever after and we'll go on lots of adventures and be strong and have fun together all the time, I'll make sure to take care of all of them this time,I promise! "

"thank you, "

And then she disappeared.

Tayuya sat in the middle of the war stricken battlefield, Kiba's head was growing heavier and colder on her lap. She wished and prayed to any God that would listen for him to wake up but he didn't. Rain fell and the air grew cold and she thought about their village the one they had planned to build-create- with Naruto as the Kage and Ino wanted to help orphan kids and she...She just wanted to stay with everyone and have fun and fucking help people too even though she never told them that.

Suddenly everything stopped,the wind stopped blowing and the rain stopped falling even though she could still see it...frozen in mid air. Nothing moved, not the trees,the clouds the moon seemed to be shining less.

"Tayuya! " she turned and saw her best friend Ino yamanaka running towards her, Tayuya gently placed Kiba down and ran to Ino.

"Ino, Kiba he's dead, he won't wake up ! "

Ino took her hand. "it's okay , I ... I did a thing, I think everything's going to okay, "

"then Kiba? And Naruto? "

Ino smiled. "they''ll wake up,I promise. "

Tayuya looked at Kiba lying dead on the floor.

"ok then" she smiled then scowled,snatching her hand from Ino's. "don't hold my hand! I'm fucking Tayuya I don't hold hands! "

OKAY THAT'S all FOLKS! IF NO ONE realized this A NARUINO story as well as Kiba x Tayuya but this FIC is not romance centric i really just wanted to write action but this idea came to ME.

Leave a review and enjoy the rest of the STORY. I do not own NARUTO or any CHARACTERS. Unless I explicitly say I own the character it's probably not MINE.


	2. Chapter Two

Naruto hesitated as he picked up the ball,he had every intention of giving it back to the girl who dropped it but her father, a large dark haired man pulled her away.

"It's that kid ," he said, " don't play with him. " he told her sternly.

Naruto's shoulders dropped . People glared at him and pulled their children close.

"Did you know ?" The whispered to each other, " He's responsible for the death of the fourth hokage"

Naruto suddenly felt stifled and insecure with everyone staring at him like that, he panicked and ran in the opposite direction into the woods . He climbed and swung through the trees , he felt like he was losing his mind, he didn't understand why he felt so guilty , why he felt he had to change himself in order to be accepted by people even they were clearly the wrong ones , bringing themselves so low too abuse and mistreat a four year old. Naruto almost gave into it, their taunts and glares , he's almost felt like changing himself but something deep inside of him shouted and screamed, telling him no! If anyone had to change it was them! He'd give them no choice but too change.

Somehow he ended up on the hokage monuments .

'the fourth hokage, huh? ' he thought. For the villagers to be so upset about his death he must've been a really respected , loved and acknowledged ninja.

Then it struck him. Ninja, Hokage! That's what he needed to be ! The hokage was the strongest most respected ninja in the whole village , if he could become hokage then the villagers would have no chance but to change , they'd have to acknowledge him. Naruto steeled his resolve and jumped off the stone heads, he was going to have a talk with the old man.

Walking back through the forest Naruto suddenly heard a high pitched dog bark, it startled him and he turned around to see a boy, around his age,Brown hair and red fang marks on his cheeks, In his arms was small , fluffy white pup with brown ears , it barked in Naruto's direction , struggling to run towards him.

"A-Akamaru ! Chill! " the dog in response bit his holder's arm and rushed at Naruto. Since Naruto wasn't really smart, he took this as a sign that the boy had been holding the dog against his will and it running to Naruto was just asking for help, so he scooped Akamaru up into his arms and took off.

"Hey! Give him back you thief! " the brown haired boy ran after him and Naruto sped up not wanting to be caught .

"it's not your dog! "

"he is too! Now give him back!, " he yelled.

"well I don't believe you! " Naruto shot back. Something akin to a laugh came from the kid behind. "you really are dumb, aren't you? "

Suprisingly Naruto found himself laughing too. "I'm not dumb , y'know! " he felt his competitors speed up, he didn't want to be caught by this guy.

"You can't out run me you know , Inuzuka's are the fastest clan in the village! "

"I don't know what that is! "

The boy sped up and a loud snicker left his mouth , all his chuckling almost made him slow down. Naruto also felt himself bust out in laughter as well . They kept like that for awhile, running trying to catch each other and Naruto was about to stop, maybe give the dog back but then he remembered what he originally going to do and as if on instinct the dog jumped out of his arms and ignored it speeding up in the direction of the hokage's tower.

Konoha's Ninja Academy. The Sandaime had told him if he wanted to be a ninja he'd have to graduate at the academy first. As he stood in front of his class he felt a familiar feeling of anxiety built up within him. The children stared at him oddly with curious eyes some of them glared at him, but one girl just looked at him like He was a ghost, like she couldn't believe he was right in front of her and then he recognized the brown haired boy. Inuzuka , he called himself.

"Class this Naruto Uzumaki ,he'll be joining us from now on. Go on say hi Naruto, " the teacher smiled. Naruto gulped. He wondered what they thought of him,he wanted to wave but wondered if anyone would wave back, what would they say to him? Slowly he steeled his nerves and shyly bought up his hand in a shy wave ...and to his surprise the Inuzuka and the girl waved back , the boy grinned and the girl smiled brightly in his direction another girl with dark hair and strange eyes also smiled and that was enough to motivate him.

He grinned widely. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto Y'know and the future hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village!!! " The class erupted in laughter, so did the blonde girl and the Inuzuka but their laughs were more that of amusement than mockery. He wanted find a seat next the boy or girl but it turned out girls had separated lessons in the morning and all empty seats next to the boy was already taken. So that left him next to a dark haired quiet kid, this boy presence was familiar somehow , not comfortable but not uncomfortable.

Ino Yamanaka was seething , it was currently break time at the academy and she had intended to find Naruto and Kiba. She had been looking for them since she could WALK but never caught sight of them. She had heard of Naruto and his many pranks around the village but she could never find him or get a hold of him, she'd always just miss him by a few minutes and Kiba, she had know idea where to look for him, then it turned out he was part of a famous clan all along. Ino had worried, she worried that maybe her future self had caused a butterfly effect and Naruto and Kiba wouldn't join the academy and never become ninja and she'd never meet them but it turned out they were entering the academy late, Kiba yesterday and Naruto today, she hadn't had a chance to properly meet either of them though.

"ugh!!! " she kicked the dirt in frustration. Why was the school yard so big!? She was most definitely going to start shouting their names out when a strange cry befell her ears. She found her way to the school garden and saw , in the dandelion patch a group of girls surrounded another girl, she had cherry blossom pink hair and watery green eyes. She was in Ino's class and the other girls teased her a lot for having big forehead, Ino had never bothered to learn her name though, she was busy spending the first four years of her life looking for people who didn't know her...haha #good life . Watching those girls bully the pinkette made her anger spike though .

"hey! What do you think you're doing !? " Ino pushed through the crowd and kneeled before the pinkette.

" you okay? ".

"Ino-Chan!? Why are you protecting that girl?! " one of the girls asked.

The four year old blonde rolled her eyes. "why are you bullying her ? "

The girl looked shocked at the question. "Don't you see? She has a huge forehead,it funny! " At this remark the pinkette whimpered.

"your mouth is pretty huge and it's annoying so...? " The girl grew angry at this and ran towards Ino , who threw three dandelions at her as if they were kunai, it landed in the girl's mouth and she fell backwards in her butt.

"your big mouth reminds me of a vase, flowers make it prettier don't you think? " She looked at the pinkette and smiled before the other girl ran off.

"why...why did you help me? " The pinkette whimpered. Ino shrugged. "I'm not much of a pope but someone once told me to always seize the moment , and don't squander it because everything could be over the next day. " The pinkette looked up at her in awe. "Ino-Chan your like a princess,"

Ino blinked in surprise. " you know my named? "

"of course, your popular, pretty and smart , our whole class knows your name, "

"oh...so what about you what's your name? "

"Haruno, Sakura Haruno, "

Ino almost punched herself. Cherry blossom coloured hair! Sakura! Of course! When laughed aloud. "you have no idea how much I've wanted to meet you! " Sakura grew confused. "w-why? "

"uh" Ino couldn't say... Her future had told her to look out for a Sakura Haruno. That could mean ; LOOK OUT FOR HER SHE'S DANGEROUS or LOOK OUT FOR HER SHE'S NEEDS PROTECTING BECUASE SHE'S AN INNOCENT CINNAMON ROLL!!

"umm...so your forehead really is huge huh? " Ino lifted Sakura's bangs and the girl immediately became flustered.

"don't do that they'll see! "

"but pulling bangs over it only shows people how self conscious you are about it...besides bangs make you look like a sheep dog, "

Sakura pouted. "then what do I do ? " "umm well...how about you meet me back here tmr, I'll help you out then. Right now I have something important to do, " Ino looked to run off but then the bell rang , signalling it was time for class. The blonde turned around stiffly, the tick mark on her head told Sakura she was mad.

"d-do you want to walk to class together Sakura? " her voice was strained , trying desperately to keep calm but Sakura could tell, she was livid .

Earlier Today...

Naruto sat on the swing during break. All his classmates played together in the yard but Naruto was reluctant to join, would anyone even want him too? If they had any interest in him , wouldn't they have spoken to him by now?

"Boo! " Naruto jumped from the swing with a girly yelp, he turned around and saw the Inuzuka boy laughing his ass off, clutching his stomach and everything .

"Sorry!Sorry! I didn't think I'd get you! " his laughter calmed and Akamaru's head popped out from his shirt and barked.

"Oi! Where do you get off scaring me like that!? ". " I wanted to meet you! " He laughed. " who are anyway? "

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka and..." he pulled Akamaru from his shirt, "This is Akamaru,he's my ninja hound, my family specialises in fighting using dogs, "

"oh so I guess, you weren't lying, "

"I wasn't , you should have trusted me, " "eh...sorry"

"nice...I guess since you apologised, we can be friends now, " Kiba grinned and Naruto shot it back without hesitation. Finally , he thought.

"come on let's play ninja tag! Your it Akamaru!"

OH MY GOD WAS THAT A LOT OF WORK !!! LIKE SERIOUSLY.

ANYWAY, YOU. ALL KNOW THIS WILL. BE VERY. DIFFERENT. FROM CANON .

I. DO. NOT. OWN. NARUTO. !!!!

PLEASE. LEAVE A REVIEW.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter three

In all his four years Kiba had never met anyone as complex as Naruto, nor did he know anyone who smelt quite like Naruto, like the forest and every kind of wildlife, though Kiba found that whenever the boy opened his mouth he would catch a wiff of Ramen .

"Hey, are you sure we won't fall from here?" Kiba gripped the nose of the fourth hokage's stone face, trying his best not to look down.

Naruto grinned down at him, a wet paint brush stuck in his hair and splashes of paint covered his whiskered cheeks.

"your not scared of a little height are you Kiba ? " he teased .

"don't be stupid dumb ass ! " Kiba took his own paintbrush and swiped vigorously at the stone face creating a door handle mustache on the face of the past hokage . He stroked his imaginary beard and squinted his eyes.

"That's it eyebrows! "

Naruto have him a weird look. " huh? "

"wouldn't it be crazy, if we had a hokage with HUGE bushy brows! I mean they'd be so thick they look like caterpillars that are trying to crawl off his face?! "

Naruto thought on this while he was completely painting over the left eye of the third hokage.

"What if we had a Hokage with an eye patch and a missing hand! He'd be a pirate hokage Y'know!?"

Kiba scowled. "Bushy brow Hokage would be way cooler!! "

"what? Bushy brows wouldn't be visually appealing y'know!! "

"which is why he'd be cool!! " Kiba shot back.

"Pirate Hokage! "

"Bushy Brow Hokage"

"Pirate Hokage! "

"Bushy Brow Hokage! "

Naruto was about to retort when he caught sight of an Anbu ninja.

"Kiba! We need to go! "

"I know, I saw him ."

As fast as they could the boys slid down the stone faces, throwing their paint cans at the ninja and ran into woods. They found themselves laughing as they ran and when they stopped for air they fell to the floor staring up at the sky.

"it's bluer today doesn't it...The sky I mean?"

Kiba stated.

Naruto nodded. "yeah and the wind is cooler, "

"you know when you become hokage, I'll make sure to paint your stone face, " Kiba told him.

Normally a comment like this would lead to a verbal fight but Naruto was to shocked by the fact that Kiba remembered his dream even though he's only mentioned it once , albeit very loudly but still.

"you said WHEN not IF, you think I could be Hokage? "

Kiba blushed. "What? I never said that! Don't put words in my mouth! "

"you did too! You believe in me don t you!? "

"no i don't ! I don't ! I do-! "

"hey!" Kiba was cut off by a girl they barely recognized .

She looked about their age and Kiba was pretty sure he saw her in their class one time.

Naruto however panicked.

"Are you gonna tell Iruka-Sensei that we skipped class!? "

"you idiot ! What if she didn't even realize! "

Kiba yelled.

"how could she not have realized, she obviously looks smart! "

"but she's blo-! "

Kiba was was cut off when the girl suddenly held Naruto's hand in hers.

" y-you, your Naruto Uzumaki and... "

She looked at Kiba. "Your Kiba Inuzuka, right,"

The boys grew uneasy in her presence before Naruto spoke in weary voice.

"um...no, "

"oh don't lie to me! " she yelled .

"yeah well...your the one who asked such a stupid question. He literally yelled his name out on the first day of class, " Kiba quipped.

A tick mark was visible on Ino's forehead and her lip twitched. 'I'm a patient person, I will not hit him,'

She chanted to herself.

"the thing is I've been looking for you two for a while now, "

"why though? "

Ino thought for a moment , she didn't think she was ready to tell them about the future yet, they were all so young after all and she didn't want them to be friends with her just because they wanted to save the world .

"uh...it was your introduction in class two days ago, I thought it was super neat so I decided that I just have to be friends with you! "

Naruto's face widened into an ear splitting grin. "really? Th-that's so cool, wait i don't even know your name! I'm Naruto by the wa—oh you already know that! "

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and grinned.

As Kiba watched him though,he couldn't help but feel Naruto was trying to hard, like he wanted to bond with this girl he just met as if he could possibly trust someone he just met five minutes ago. He understood people normally got excited at the prospect of making new friends but Naruto looked ...desperate—no,not desperate, just, way too hopeful. From the start Kiba knew Naruto was different, like how no one dropped him off or picked him up from the academy, he never ate lunch at school either, it never seemed like any parent punished him for his pranks ( well now it's THEIR pranks but still), Naruto also didn't seem too come from a clan, civilian or ninja and most of all the villagers seem to hate Naruto for some unknown reason , there were times where the two them would sit on trees and crack jokes no one understood but them and Naruto would suddenly go quiet and his expression would be a painful one and every time Kiba saw that He felt hurt too, he wanted to help Naruto but he couldn't,he didn't know what to do, he couldn't relate to Naruto and he felt helpless that he couldn't help him and that hurt more.

"uh Naruto, Kiba we should have lunch together, I brought two extra bentos coincidentally, "

She said that but Kiba didn't believe it for a second, just who did she think she was fooling, she was probably just like all those other kids at school that didn't let Naruto play ninja tag with them and some of the teachers that excluded Naruto from class activities.

They ate by the riverside, Ino had her feet dipped in the flowing water and the sleeves of her orange sweater rolled up as she ate her lunch, Naruto couldn't believe she had made lunch for him and Kiba , he found it strange that she did, she said she was looking for them for a while now but how did she know she'd find them today in order to make them lunch unless she's been making them lunch everyday in hopes of seeing them? If so that must have been quite the hassle.

"Ne Naruto, next year my parent will be allowing me to come home on my own,we should start walking home together then." Ino smiled and excitement bubbled up in Naruto's chest, he's never had someone to walk home with before not even Kiba.

"That's sounds cool, we can have Ramen before we go! "

Ino scowled at this. "you can't keep eating that alone you know , it's not good nutrition, "

"huh? How'd you know that I always eat that? "

Ino froze. "B-because...you mentioned it,when you were rambling back there remember, "

He didn't,he really didn't and Kiba knew this but decided not to say anything but he would be watching this Yamanka girl because she was just creepy.

Hello It's me again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review i would love your feedback.

I do not own Naruto.

RR


	4. Chapterfour

"Ino-Chan!what are you writing?" Sakura leaned over her friend's shoulder, to see her scribbling on a piece of paper .

'when is your birthday?' She read off the paper.

"Ino...don't tell me your still talking to those two misfits!?"

Ino ignored her, a blush coated her cheeks as she decorated the paper with question marks and smiley faces .

Sakura hated when they had joined classes with the boys, it's not that she was desperate for Ino's attention or anything ,it was just that whenever they had joined classes Ino would be busy passing notes with the class clowns Naruto and Kiba,she would still sit with Sakura but she just never talked too her, this had been going on for a month now.

Ino folded her paper into a plane and threw it across the classroom, she intended for it too hit Naruto , who was busy chatting with Kiba, instead it went off course and stuck in the hair of one Sasuke Uchiha, the class grew quiet and the Uchiha glared in her direction.Ino shook off her shock and ran to his seat, she bent into a 90 bow.

"I'm really sorry,I wasn't trying to-"

"Geez! I don't care! Whatever!" He glared at her.

" Yeah, but I ju-"

Ino was cut off again. "I SAID I DON'T CARE!"

His harsh tone shocked Ino, she fell back only to be caught by Kiba.

"Oye ! No need to be a jerk y'know!". Naruto was in front of her nose to nose with Sasuke glaring daggers at him.

" I was just trying to tell her that I didn't care but she kept on pressing , it's annoying, "

"When someone apologizes to you, you're supposed to acknowledge it not just brush it off!"

Ino just couldn't comprehend why he felt the need to be so loud, though...She was touched, her future self was right, Naruto was kind and brave.

"Why are you still standing there Kiba ?! Let's teach this jerk a lesson!"

Kiba dropped Ino and ran to Naruto's side.

Sasuke stared at them emotionlessly. He got into a fighting stance and Naruto and Kiba was about to lunge when Iruka-Sensei held them both back by their collars .

"Sasuke,we don't insult people when their trying too apologize to us,"

" Hn, " Sasuke barely acknowledged him and this angered Naruto.

"Lemme at him sensei,I'll beat some manners into him!!!"

Naruto yelled.

"Now two on One just doesn't seem fair to me,now does it?"

"When it comes to my friends, fair doesn't really matter to me !"

" Besides... " Naruto pulled away from Iruka-Sensei . "No one was ever fair when it came to me," he stormed back to his seat, bumping Sasuke's shoulder as he did so.

Sakura watched the children walk back to their seats, Ino sat next to her, her eyes downcast and a disheartened look on her face but Sakura couldn't help but look at her in awe, Ino had three guys fighting over her ,that was...soooo cool! Sakura wanted to be like that, she wanted people too fight for her too,she wanted to be like Ino, brave and smart and cute, she would try her best , she would become Ino's equal.

"You going to meet up with Ino and Kiba now?"

Naruto nodded. " yeah! Thanks for the meal Iruka-Sensei ! "

The boy grinned and ran out of the ramen stand after bidding farewell to Ayame and Teuchi.

He made his way through the forest, trying to get to the river bank where he , Ino and Kiba usually met up, when he suddenly heard a cry.

"Someone help me!"

' what?'

"Someone please help me!"

The voice was near by so Naruto took off in it's general direction.

It didn't take him long. The voice belonged to a child , a girl with black hair and a red Kimono, she was tied to a tree, tears streaming down her face.

"Um...are you okay?"

" my mommy...we got lost and she me left behind, she ran away from me...!!! " the girl cried.

Naruto's heart broke for her.

"It's okay...I'll get you out of here, I promise,"

Naruto took a kunai and began cutting her ropes, it took longer than usual because his tools were dull and he never had money to replace it.

He took the girls hand and led her out of the forest.

"So...where do you live...?"

" on the other side of the village , "

Naruto stiffened.

' sorry Ino, kiba, I might be late,' he thought.

"I'm sure your Okaasan didn't mean to leave you,"

Naruto attempted to comfort her.

"hai," the girl nodded.

" hey Naruto... "

"Yeah," it didn't register to him that this girl shouldn't know his name.

"Your so dumb!"

Naruto pulled his hand away from her and a feral , not so child like grin broke out across her face.

Naruto backed away slowly as the child suddenly transformed into a grown man, he had black hair, a lean figure and he wore a green flack jacket meaning he was a chuunin or jounin. The man held his head in his hands and laughed hysterically.

"I can't believe you fell for that you idiot!"

"What's...who are you?!"

" does it really matter, I'm connected to someone you murdered on the day you were born ! You beast!! "

While he was ranting Naruto took the opportunity to flee the fuck outta there but he didn't make it far, the man grabbed onto the back of his head and slammed it face first into the dirt. The man stooped beside Naruto's head and the boy felt a chill as a kunai was placed at his neck. His body shook and his heart raced. He was going to die!

He knew he wasn't dead yet but he might as well have been, his entire body was cold and hot tears fell from his eyes.

"Don't take offense to this I just don't think you , a monster, should be roaming around freely,"

Naruto went still as he thought.

He would never be Hokage.

He would never change the world like he wanted to.

He would never make the villagers respect him.

And...Ino and Kiba, they planned to meet up today, so they could train together, they were gonna challenge each other to see who can do the most push ups and the longest hand stand...He was gonna miss out on so many fun things.

With a new found determination Naruto found the strength to bite the hand of the ninja but he was still cut somewhere by the collarbone. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed a stone , throwing it at the ninja , this didn't do much as the man grabbed Naruto by the shirt and punched him, he proceeded to knee Naruto in the stomach and slam an elbow into his neck. The man wrapped his fingers around Naruto's neck,lifting him of the floor.

The blonde struggled and blood forced It's way out his mouth but he wouldn't give up.

Naruto pulled his legs up and slammed them into the ninja's nose, there was a strange crunch! Sound and the man folded like paper as he dropped Naruto. The blonde boy scrambled to his feet, wiped the blood from his face and scrambled off too the river.

"Uuuuuugh! It's late where is that idiot!!" Kiba drawled.

" You think we should go home? My parents will be worried, "

Ino asked.

Kiba stared at her, she was testing him, she's been doing this since they met, Kiba knew she was trying to see how far he would go for Naruto, he just didn't know why she was doing it.

"Nah, I think we should wait for him, we promised after all."

Ino looked pleased at his answer.

"I wonder why he's taking so long though, maybe he was attacked?"

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "What kinda stupid assumption is that?"

Ino grew angry. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed...The way everyone else except us and Iruka-Sensei treat Naruto,?!"

" Yeah but that doesn't mean... " Kiba trailed off. He thought of all the times he saw Naruto with bruises and scratches he could never explain.

"Your right we should go look for him," Kiba said with worry.

" No need, I'm right here! " the two turned to see Naruto coming towards them, he was panting , his clothes was dirty and he was bruised all over.

"Naruto what happened to you!?" Ino asked worried.

Naruto grinned and scratched the backed of his neck. "It's nothing, I was rushing to get here and I kinda fell and rolled down a hill, so I got all scratched up,"

A gross lie , but Ino and Kiba let him have it.

"Does it hurt?" Kiba asked.

" No way! " Naruto looked up at the sky, noticing stars were coming out.

"You guys should go, your parents might be worried,"

" No way idiot! We'll go when we do what we came to do! " Kiba quipped.

"Yeah let's eat and complete our challenge, who cares if our parents worry, the least they'll do is kill us, " Ino said as she tried to light a fire .

"A-are you sure?"

" of course, or are you afraid you can't do more push ups than me? "

The friends ate in silence before Ino tapped Naruto on the shoulder.

"Huh"

Ino dug in her pouch and pulled out a band aid, she gently placed it on Naruto's cut above his eyebrow, she then placed one on the slash on his collarbone and then another below his eyes .

Naruto was shocked when Ino wrapped her arms around him.

"You should stop hiding when your in pain, I already know your strong,you don't have to prove it , so please let me help you when you need it,"

Kiba placed a hand on Naruto's head. "Ino's right , we walk beside each other , not behind or or in front of each other. So if there is anything you need to say, say it."

There was another silence and Naruto's arms tightened around Ino.

"I don't know..."

" I don't know why they hate me and they ignore me and the one's that don't ignore me try to kill me , every time I try to talk to anybody they all leave and when I ask the hokage why ,he never answers me! The old man tries his best to keep me safe but... "

"... it's never enough..." Kiba finished.

" I don't tell you because I don't want your pity! I know I can't lose who I am , there's nothing wrong with who I am and no matter what the villagers say! Or do! I'll make them change because I'm the one who's gonna change the world !! "

Kiba smiled. "I can respect that, so long as you respect that I'm gonna be with you every step of the way,"

" me too! " Ino smiled and plopped a kiss on Naruto's forehead.

Kiba jumped and pulled Naruto away. "Gross! Don't give him cooties!"

"Kiba!!!"

" Ino! "

The two ninjas turned around, to see their parents looking absolutely furious.

"Mom!" tHe woman didn't give her son a chance to speak, she pulled him by the ear and tried to drag him home.

"Mom!!" Kiba fought. " I wanted to walk home with Naruto! "

The woman bonked him on the head. "Your four years old, what makes you think you can be out this late!?" She completely ignored him and hauled back home.

Ino's dad just grabbed her teleported away with a grim look on his face.

A scene like that usually made Naruto fall apart but not this time he was feeling strangely lighter tonight and he'd let the world know it, he'd prove just how great he was, people would read about him books and learn about him in school. Everyone would know the name Naruto Uzumaki...even if he had to continuously scream it for them to remember.

I dont own Naruto!!


	5. Chapter five

Ino sat in her room in front of her purple vanity mirror, she wasn't going to the academy today, for some reason her parents didn't want her too, they said they needed to talk to her first, lay down some rules. Ino had only the slightest idea of what they wanted to say, they caught her yesterday with Naruto, she had no idea if they hated Naruto like everyone else but she never saw them attempt to be nice to him either.

She turned to look out her window, where she could clearly see the hokage monuments.

' Naruto's father is one of those people,' she thought as she sighed.

"Ino-Chan?" There was a knock at her door, her father.

" come in, "

Inoichi sat at the end of Ino's bed and fiddled with his hands nervously.

"Dad, spit it out,"

Inoichi exhaled heavily. "Yesterday...you were with Naruto Uzumaki..."

" I was also with Kiba Inuzuka,problem? "

Ino stared at him looking for any tells that might giveaway the reason everyone hates Naruto,Inoichi noticed this, she was curious and she was looking for answers. He wouldn't give it to her.

"I don't want you hanging out with those two...they're bad for you."

Ino squinted her eyes at him. " How? "

She knew he really didn't care if she hung out with Kiba, Naruto was the problem.

"I know about they're pranks around the village, I know they have the worst grades in your class, I don't want them rubbing them off on you princess,"

It's not that Inoichi hated Naruto,in fact he sure Naruto was a good kid,but the villagers hated him, they ignored him and glared at him every chance they got, if people noticed Ino hung out with him she might be affected badly, people might hate her too, her career as a ninja could be affected.

" Iruka-Sensei said that smart people are attracted to smart people so if Naruto and Kiba are stupid and I hang with them then that means I was already stupid to begin with"

"Ino-Chan,I don't want to see you with them,"

" but dad, I like them! "

"You have Sakura, she's a much better influence,"

" Yeah but when it comes to Sakura I'm the influencer in that relationship, "

" Ino-Chan I don't want you hanging out with them, that's final! "

"But da-!"

" I said That's final Ino!!! "

Ino was shocked from being yelled at and her eyes dropped to the floor.

"I promise I won't hang around them anymore,"

" Good, " Inoichi kissed her forehead and left.

Ino watched him go and couldn't help but laugh when he left. "Sucker."

She was lying through her teeth.

"So..." Ino said as Naruto led her up the stairs to his apartment.

" the Sandaime hokage pays your rent for you? "

Naruto nodded. "Only until I become a ninja , then I take over from there,"

He unlocked the door to his apartment and Ino was surprised to see it was actually clean.

"You live alone here huh?"

"Yeah," Naruto went into his room and Ino sat outside in the living room.

" sometimes the old man and Iruka-Sensei drop by though, "

Naruto entered the room with his ninja tools and his back pack in hand and a large grin on his face.

"Let's go! Kiba might already be there!"

Kiba and Naruto were baring in on One hundred push ups and Ino laid in the river trying to wash the sweat off of her. They went a push up a competition and she was already out after twenty-five, Naruto and Kiba were still at it.

'God Curse their stamina!' She thought, wiping sweat from her brows.

"Oh give up Naruto! You won't win," Kiba said through shaky breathes.

"No...way! Dog boy! You may beat me in races but...when it comes to brute strength your out classed!"

" Oh shut up scrawny! "

"Flea bag!"

" Urchin head!! "

"Wet dog!"

Ino got up. "Akamaru! " she called the dog. "Get in the water boy!"

The dog padded over to her, licking her hand as she rubbed his ears.

"This would be a good time to tell you two...my dad doesn't want me hanging out with you guys,"

At this comment Naruto and Kiba crashed to the ground from exhaustion and shock.

"What! Why?"

Kiba asked.

"He thinks you guys are bad influences but I'm not stupid, he says the both of you but I know he only has a problem with..."

" Me, " Naruto finished.

"So is this the part where you say we're not friends anymore?" Kiba asked.

" Don't be stupid dummy! I just can't be seen in public with you...for about eight years, "

"Eight years!?"

"Yeah... That's when we graduate from the academy, I'll be a ninja and he won't be able to tell me what to do, "

"Oh" said Naruto. "Seems legit,"

" Second thing Second, when is your birthday? "

" why do you need to know his birthday , " Kiba asked.

"Oh mind your business,"

" It's October 10th, "

Ino laughed. "You're a real ten outta ten aren't you ," she joked and Naruto shot her a grin.

" Of course, I am the guy who's gonna change the world y'know! "

"Ino-Chan what're are we doing?" Sakura asked her friend. " and why do you have that dog? "

"Shhh! There he is ! "

Ino peaked out from behind the tree, Sasuke Uchiha sat a few feet away from it, meditating as it would seem.

"He looks cool doesn't he?" Sakura stated.

" stay here,I'll be back" Ino stated walking toward the boy.

Sasuke's peace was interrupted as something damp and wet touched his cheeks.

He opened his eyes to see Ino Yamanaka grinning and holding a white dog up to his face.

He groaned and reclosed his eyes, maybe if he ignored her she would go away.

" Don't ignore me, mr. Broody pants !! "

The Uchiha opened his eyes wearily not wanting any noise.

"What?"

" I need a favor, "

"No"

Ino sat next to him and threw her arm around his shoulders. "Oh come on we're buddies!"

" we really aren't, "

"Good friends then?"

" No"

"Just friends?"

" No"

"Acquaintances?"

" No! "

"Class mates then!?!"

Sasuke sighed. "What do you want Yamanaka!?"

" I want to know what special event happened on October tenth, "

Her future self said Naruto's birthday was a clue but she knew she couldn't ask her father, he knew she hung out with Naruto so he would get suspicious and so did Iruka-Sensei and the hokage, plus they didn't learn any ninja history in school yet , but Ino knew Sasuke would be ahead of everybody in class, he might know and she needed to know.

"The fourth hokage died that day, he faugth the nine tailed beast and defeated it but died in the process. "

"Oh, stupid question but what's the fourth hokage's name?"

Sasuke groaned and this was the most expressive Ino had ever seen him be. "His name was Minato Namikaze, "

Sasuke got up. "If you want more information go to the library, I'm outta here,"

" Yeah, thanks Sasuke! " she enveloped him in a hug just to annoy him and ran off.

It was about time she brought Kiba into this.

Disclaimer. I do not own Naruto!


	6. Chapter six

It was a cool day , nice wind and the sun wasn't too hot, Kiba Inuzuka , ever the idiot he was, decided it was a good time to walk Akamaru , really all he wanted to do was walk his dog but instead he was in the library, looking for picture books on the fourth hokage.

He wasn't by himself of course , he was with Ino yamanaka! His loud, obnoxious,blond friend, the female one.

Ino spent a whole half an hour telling him of how before she was born, her future self visited her and tried to take her place but decided not too and tasked Ino with saving the future , she told him about a girl name Tayuya who would be their friend in the future and how he and Naruto both die and don't even change the world and a bunch of stuff about how Sasuke Uchiha ( He never liked that guy anyway ) would start a war and how the chuunin exams would be very dangerous so they had best be at chuunin level strength before that and ya da ya da Sakura Haruno.

When she first told him this he wondered if she was just friends with them because she wanted to save the world but she looked ready to punch him so he didn't ask.

"Look, I found it," Ino called over to him from the other side of the library.

The book she had was a mere two inches thick and very colourful.

"Konoha Legacies; a brief study," Kiba read aloud . " does it have pictures? "

"Of course it has pictures that's why I picked it!!!" Ino yelled and the librarian gave a sharp 'shhh!' .

They turned all the way to the middle of the book, and Ino gasped.

"That's... the fourth hokage"

Kiba was also awe struck. "He looks nothing like his stone face,he's all ... Happy looking and blonde,"

" He looks like Naruto, with the hair and blue eyes, "

In the book there were simple things like his birthday , his age when he died and his family, the things he did for the village ; killing the Kyuubi and saving the village, he even trained one of the villages strongest ninjas, Kakashi hatake.

Kiba's eyebrows furrowed, "that doesn't make sense," he said.

" what doesn't?, "

"My mom says you can't kill a tailed beast, they usually seal them inside of young baby's,"

Ino looked more confused than ever. "What's a tailed beast exactly, Sasuke-Kun mentioned it?"

Kiba groaned, it wasn't like he paid attention to his mother. "Their like these large chakra demons, each with a specific number of tails to represent there power, nine being the strongest and one being the weakest, you can't kill them because they just come back. In order to keep them under control people tend to seal them away and that's what you call a jinchuuriki,"

Ino purses her lips and sat down . "But ...Sasuke-Kun said he killed it..."

Ino's eyes widened as realization struck. "Naruto's a jinchuuriki...the fourth sealed the Fox inside of him, that's why Naruto's birthday coincides with the fourth's death day,"

" but why Naruto...? "

"Because Naruto's his son, he wouldn't seal it in a stranger's baby,"

"But they don't even have the same last name!"

" I reckon that He has his mother's name, so no one finds out about him...this all makes sense, why the villagers hate him so much, they're afraid of him. "

"But it's only inside of him, it's not...him," Kiba stated.

Ino nodded in agreement and turned the pages in the book. "Check this out." She said , voice filled with wonder.

Kiba bent over her shoulder and his eyes widened . "Is that his wife!? Naruto's mom?"

" It says wife of the fourth but it looks like her name and information was purposely removed. "

"That's some red hair tho,"

" She's beautiful, I wonder if Naruto has her personality. "

"Speaking of which, shouldn't we tell him...what we know and about the future, ?"

Ino stroked her imaginary beard. " I don't think we should yet, maybe in a few years, I feel that him finding out about his tenant on his own would be a big part of who he becomes, "

"I don't know Ino ..."

" Please you have to trust me, if he doesn't find out by graduation, we'll tell him. "

She promised.

_One year later_

Ino stood at the school play hard , arms crossed and just a little bit bored.

Naruto and Kiba had detention today so she was left with Sakura and her other friends, Sakura was spinning around with the others in the middle of the flower field and then she stopped.

"Hey everybody guess who I like!?"

One girl rolled her eyes knowingly . "Don't tell me it's Sasuke Uchiha,"

" Huh? Yeah! Isn't he cool?! " she gushed and Ino worried. Sasuke was the one who would start the war, she really didn't like the idea of him and Sakura but then a thought hit her.

What if Sakura, nice , bubbly , happy Sakura would be the one to prevent Sasuke-Kun from being evil, she'd worm her way into his heart and fix his dark broody soul.

Ino squealed girlishly. 'oh that 'd be sooo romantic, like a novel!'

One of Ino's friends interrupted her reverie by speaking. "Look at Sakura she's really coming out of her shell huh?"

Ino's expression grew solomn. "I kinda wish she'd go back in,"

Her reply fell on deaf ears. Ino looked at Sakura playing and chatting with everyone else and she sighed. She was happy for Sakura, she was growing more confident but that also meant that Sakura was no longer just her's , soon Sakura would be popular and she'd belong to the entire class, She would no longer need Ino , she would be able to stand on her own to feet, that made Ino just a bit sad because she hoped she could have at least one thing to herself. To bad though.

Naruto Uzumaki was on his way to the river side to meet his friends after a meal of Ramen with Iruka-Sensei . It was a nice day, well...a better day than he usually had.

Both him and Kiba were gonna climb trees to see who could get to the top first and Ino was just gonna do push ups and stretches.

"Kakashi!!!! My ESTEEMED RIVAL! I CHALLENGE YOU!!!"

Naruto turned around and spotted two ninjas, one with gravity defying silver hair and a strange mask and the other...oh God the other one, he had a bowl cut and eyebrow so thick they looked like caterpillars trying to crawl off his face and that wasn't the worst part , he wore a neon green jumpsuite and he ran on his HANDS!! He was fast too.

Naruto hid behind a wall, usually it was just the civilians that despised him but he was taking no chances after what happened last year.

The guy in the mask passed by first. "Why are you upside down Gai?"

"Why you should know this my esteemed rival! It builds ...muscle!" He was beginning to tire.

The two passed the wall leaving Naruto watching on in awe.

He smirked. 'looks like we can change up our training,'

Naruto and Kiba jumped down from a tree and Ino finished up her stretches.

Kiba sighed cracking his knuckles. "What do we do now?"

" I don't know, we never have a plan for training, " Ino replied.

Naruto grinned in his fox like way. "I have an idea...drum role please!"

" just tell us you idiot! "

"Walking, on our hands!" He said proudly.

" What? " Kiba looked at him like he'd grown a new head.

"Oh come on ! I heard...people...say, that it builds arm muscle,"

Ino nodded. "He's right actually, your legs are two times stronger than your arms because your always walking on it, imagine if you started walking on your hands, your punch power would be amazing!"

" So! " Kiba looked between the both of them. "We're gonna do that!?"

" Yup! "

Thirty minutes Later.

Naruto and Kiba lay sprawled out in the dirt as they watched Ino walking at a normal foots pace in her hands. For the first five minutes Naruto and Kiba couldn't even move and when the finally did, it was barley an inch before they fell.

Fucking Ino on the other hand got it almost immediately !! only stopping when the blood rushed to her head.

The two boys groaned. "Why is she so blessed!?"

Ino sat. "It's because I'm superior to you two!" She boasted.

" How so ? You can't even do more push ups than us!? "

"Well...um, my mom says that one week after I was born I was already walking and running around."

Ino remembered that, she suspected it had something to do with her future self visiting her and interacting with her, she was way to conscious for a baby.

"Then...I'll Just have to keep at it then!!" Naruto said determinedly .

"You better!" Kiba stated. " You can't change the world with spaghetti arms, "

Ino laughed as the two began their bickering .

' Do your best Naruto! I'm counting on you, '

"Ino-Chan, look it's Sasuke!! Do you think he'll let me sit next to him!?"

Sakura gushed and Ino smiled at her while continuing to paint her nails.

"I don't think so...He needs his time to brood,"

The pinkette frowned. "You may be right but... " Sakura stopped talking as Ino had stopped listening, the blonde pulled out a piece of paper and started scribbling.

'let's go camping together!'

Ino folded the paper into an aeroplane and launched it at Naruto but...As fate would have it, the plane sailed off course and into the hair of one Sasuke Uchiha.

Ino, apparently not one to learn from past lessons, ran to his table and bent into a 90 bow .

"I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean too,"

She raised her head expecting to see glaring eyes,instead Sasuke's eyes were soft and a red tint colored his cheeks. "It's fine,I don't mind," he handed her back her plane and Ino was way to shocked to reply, she walked to Naruto and Kiba's desk and chatted in a strange detatched way with them.

She completely forgot about Sakura , whose emerald eyes stared at her in envy.

She wondered why Sasuke-Kun was nice to Ino but cold to everyone else and why did Ino act so flustered about it!?

That is all I have for you today, later!

I do not own Naruto!!!

Please leave a REVIEW!!


	7. Chapter Seven

I do not own Naruto!

Break ups,Insecurities and Hello Christmas

( A year after last chapter)

This was weird. Usually whenever they met up Ino was the one to arrive last but today she'd been waiting for Sakura for at least an hour now.

'oh hurry up damn it!'

Ino cursed, it was getting pretty cold and she had important things to do.

Ino sighed with relief when Sakura stalked up to her, her hands clenched at her side as she glared down at Ino.

Countless reasons ran through Ino's head as too why Sakura looked so upset.

Maybe she was bullied or attacked. Ino shook her head. That wasn't likely with how much confidence Sakura had gained since all those years ago, she could probably deal with anyone giving her problems by using her fierce fierce words.

"Sakura? What's wrong?"

Sakura's lips twitched and her eyes were downcast as though she was sad but the livid like shaking of her entire body made Ino think the girl was angry.

"Ino-Chan, you like Sasuke-Kun don't you..."

It was less of a question and more of a statement, a statement with no kind of fact to it.

"Sakura what are you talking about, I told you, I'll help you get Sasuke,"

This time Sakura's voice wasn't as soft as before. "DON'T MESS WITH ME GOD DAMN IT!!"

Ino was taken aback by her yell but didn't get a chance to open her mouth.

" you were making a fool of me!!! Pretending we were friends!! Saying you would get me and Sasuke-Kun together but I saw, I saw you, every time you talk to Sasuke-Kun, it's like your a different person and he...it's like he's besotted!! You were laughing at me behind my back!! "

"S-Sakura, come on I would never d-"

"I hate you!" Sakura cut her off. " I can't believe you betrayed me like this! I hate you!! "

Watch out for one Sakura Haruno. Her future self words rang in her head.

Ino tried her bestest to remain calm. "You don't mean that Sakura,say you don't mean that!"

The pinkette's next words were soft and slow.

"Ino-Chan...from now on we're rivals, I don't want your pity and I don't want you too go easy on me."

She pulled the red ribbon from her hair and held it out too Ino. " I'm not gonna be that same weak little girl you saved back then, "

You let Sakura surpass you!

You were proud of little textbook skills!!

The voice rang through Ino's head and she shook with anger.

This!? This!? This is what that was about!? A boy!? Sasuke Uchiha no less!!

The guy that's supposed to ruin everything for Naruto and Kiba and Tayuya and her.

Ino felt sick. She bit down on her lip until blood drew.

If Sakura wanted a rival she would give it to her, she's make Sasuke fall at her feet and she'd go on to change the world with Naruto and Kiba.

"Okay Sakura, I won't be losing to you!"

"So how'd you get permission to do this?"

Ino looked at Kiba who was holding a rucksack and had a sleeping bag under his arm, he grinned a mischievous grin but Ino could see a he was a little tense, scared even.

"I didn't get permission my parents think I'm staying at Sakura's,"

Kiba gave a hearty chuckle. "Heh. You haven't told them about your fight?"

" of course not, being friends with Sakura was so convenient, "

She sighed.

"My mom and sis don't even know, I'm here, I snuck out,"

Naruto walked out of his apartment and closed the door behind him, a blush coated his whiskered cheeks as his eyes darted between his two friends, who were both packed for a sleep over.

Kiba looked at him blinking owlishly. "Well aren't you gonna let us in?"

" Well...y'know I'm not sure this is a good idea anymore... "

"What!?" Both of his friends gawked at him and Ino resisted the urge to punch him.

" it is 9 0' clock in the night Naruto! "

"Yeah! We're not gonna sneak back into our homes at this hour!"

" Yeah but...can't we...just not sleep at my place, "

Kiba , surprisingly, asked the question first.

"What's wrong Naruto, remember you promised you'd tell us things from now on,"

" It's just that...my house is dirty, "

Ino face palmed so hard she think she left a mark.

"You don't really think that matters does it!?"

Naruto shook his head rapidly. "No but, I always imagined, if we ever hung out at my place, it's be like normal friends do, I'd serve us tea and we'd play games , but my apartment is way to cramped to do that,"

" we don't have to do that stuff, Naruto, "

"Yeah!" Kiba grinned. "We're not normal friends, we're awesome friends,"

" And that's just facts! " Ino laughed.

"But...I can't help it if I'm a little embarrassed,"

Ino thought for a moment. "Maybe we should camp out then,"

" Huh? "

"I mean, we already have sleeping bags, we could light a fire, get some food and camp out near our spot by the river,"

" but it's chilly tonight? " Kiba complained.

"We'll light. A FIRE! ," Ino gritted and the Inuzuka huffed in compliance.

" Naruto go get the matches and some easy cook meals from your kitchen, "

The boy's face lit up and he scurried off.

Ino and Kiba looked at each other and smiled,Naruto had that affect on people.

They had played games like Naruto wanted and they talked about the future and what they wanted to do when they were older.

Kiba had shocked everyone when he said he wanted to create something, something that could surpass time itself so he could leave a mark on the world.

Ino didn't expect that Kiba would have put so much thought into his future, all she knew about her future was that she wanted to hang out with her friends forever and change the world with them. Though recently she had the goal of wanting to beat Sakura, but that was only a side goal not ... Her thing.

Thoughts raced through her mind keeping her awake when Naruto and Kiba was already cozied up near the fire in their sleeping bag.

She sighed . The moon was bright out tonight and though it was indeed cold she would manage.

Picking up her blanket Ino wrapped it around herself and walked off into the forest. She couldn't help but take in all the sounds of the forest, she heard crickets, owls hooting, she didn't think birds would be out at this hour but they were , she saw a rabbit scurry across her path and a pair of squirrels running up a tree.

She couldn't help but wonder what other kinds of animals there were, the forest was full of so many but...was that really all?

She wondered about sea animals,Konoha didn't have any beaches and barely any lakes but she read about dolphins and whales, her heart jumped at the thought of getting to see one.

" ROAR!! "

Ino stopped, frozen in her spot, "What was that!?" She wondered out loud.

Her first instinct was to run back to Naruto and Kiba but she steeled her nerves. It could just be a dog and she was being unreasonably scared .

She followed the path to where she heard the sound of the thing , it took her a while but she finally found it and saying she was shocked would be a gross understatement.

It was huge and it's scales and eyes were the color of sapphires, an intense blue that refracted the light of the moon. The radiating blue tone of its scales captured Ino in an awestruck trance. It had two serrated fangs that jutted out of her upper jaw onto her bottom lip slightly, Ino guessed the rest of her teeth must have been white, sharp, knife-like and meat-shearing . Her head was roughly triangular and right near her left eye was a small scar Ino almost missed.

Her body stature could be inferred as very aerodynamic and built for flying, and it's wings...oh It's wings .They were large, meant to carry its weight and anything else it may have to, soft blue plumage spread and flapped in a clumsy stretch creating whiplash that almost knocked Ino to the ground, she couldn't help but think they resembled the wings of an angel but this was no angel.

She was staring at,in all its glory, a dragon.

The Dragon stared at her with wide blue eyes wondering what exactly she would do and Ino knew that moving just was not an option. She stood there shaking with heavy breaths and the Dragon eyed her before it decided she was probably way weaker than it was . The Dragon padded towards her in a slow gait and Ino held her breath and prayed to any God that would listen. She do not want to die!

It got close to her face and huffed , steam coming out it's nostrils but to Ino's utter surprise she didn't feel a single change in temperature, at first she thought that maybe it was just frost from the cold but she knew, she just knew, this was steam...so Why didn't it burn her?

The Dragon also seemed puzzled by this, it stepped back from her and Ino was about to run but before she could she was bombarded by the Dragon letting out a huge trail of fire from it's mouth , Ino trembled, unable to move out of the way as the blaze made its way toward her, she wanted to shout; Naruto ! Kiba!Save me! But her voice was caught.

The fire finally hit her, she could see nothing but orange for a while and she felt a bit warm but then it was over...and she was alive, her eyes were a little dry but she was alive. "God almighty I'm alive!" She cried and fell to the ground hugging herself.

Ino stood up, finding confidence from somewhere she looked at the Dragon, a weary smile on her face as she stalked towards it, inhaling and exhaling she placed a hand on it's snout , taking in the warmth of its scales,instinctively she placed her cheek on it and her eyes drooped as she grew sleepy ...and then a woman fell from the sky.

The lady wore a mask so her face could not be seen but Ino knew this was a female by the body structure and the moonlight silver hair. The woman faced the Dragon and yelled.

"Dragon! What are you doing here!?"

" Go back at once!!! "

Ino almost fell over as the Dragon without warning poofed out of existence much like a shadow clone would. The woman faced Ino and by the slight tensing of her shoulders and tightening of her fist, Ino deduced she was shocked by something.

She stared at the soot covered blonde before finally speaking. "You're naked,"

Before Ino could die of embarrassmentthe lady stalked up to her and socked her in the nose causing Ino to clock out.

Ino woke up wrapped in Naruto and Kiba's blankets, both couldn't look her in the eye and were completely red in the face, she pummeled them and made them promise to never speak of this.

CHRISTMAS DAY ONE YEAR LATER._

Ino loved this holiday.

There was something about the season that sent joy flooding through her body, sending her bones vibrating with the excitement of it all.

In typical Ino fashion, she was hosting a party. There weren't too many of them present, just the inner circle of Kiba , Naruto , her and Iruka-Sensei who left earlier, but that's just how she liked it.

Plain. Simple. Intimate.

Her eyes kept drifting toward one attendee in particular, and her cheeks heated every time he caught her bashful gaze.

Naruto.

He was sitting with Kiba on the couch in front of his fireplace, talking about something that Ino had no idea about . So, she stayed in the kitchen, placing baked goods strategically on a red and green striped platter.

Her mother had no idea she was hear tonight, they both thought she was spending Christmas with Sakura. They had been planning this since last year , spending Christmas night together and eating sweets and playing games.

She sighed,tired of decorating gingerbread men she took her cookies and placed them on the table in front of Naruto and Kiba before squeezing in the middle of both of them.

"Let's be honest here," she grinned at the boys. " Kiba has the ugliest sweater right? "

The boy in question grinned and yelled out in joy. "Hell yeah! I win!"

" what ! No way mine's clearly uglier! " Naruto chirped.

"Sorry Naruto, Ino spoke and king's words...are absolute,"

" Oh hush you too and just eat up! " Ino groaned not wanting to be in the middle of a yelling competition , she hugged them both trying to steal their warmth and bask in the quiet.

"We should play snowball fight," Kiba said out of the blue and a tick mark grew on Ino's forehead. " It's ten in the night Baka!! "

"It was just a thought..."

Naruto got up and walked over to the next side of the room and grinned

" hey Ino try to score the cookie in my mouth! "

Ino laughed. "No way, you don't throw food,"

" well I do! " Kiba grabbed a cupcake and launched it at Naruto , having no intention of getting it in his mouth, the cupcake hit Naruto's forehead with a Splat! and then trailed down his face leaving a mark of red icing.

Ino sighed, they probably tasted horrible anyway.

Naruto got a snack of his own and threw it at Kiba who caught it in his mouth, Naruto grew annoyed and then commenced the Christmas food fight.

Later in the night when everyone was asleep Ino squeezed out from between Naruto and Kiba ,who were trying to steal her body heat, and opened the window.

A cold wind pricked her cheeks and she closed her eyes ,taking a deep breath in and then,she heard it... A faraway shriek from above, she looked up and saw the Dragon from last year, it circled the sky and roared a trail of fire just for Ino and then flew off into the distance.

This time there was no lady though.

Ino smiled. It was a nice Christmas.

Merry christmas!!!

Leave a review!!


	8. Chapter Eight

I do not own Naruto!

Graduation day came and Naruto had passed, despite his problems making a clone, Ino had told him it was because he had to much chakra making it harder to control, after months of spartan chakra control training, he had finally gotten it down.

Later that day, on his way to meet Ino and Kiba, Mizuki-Sensei had approached him and told him of the other test, the real Genin test, get a scroll and master a Jutsu from it and then he would really pass the test.

His first question was if Ino and Kiba could come with him but Mizuki had informed him that each student was given a different test and with that Naruto was on his way.

Naruto let his body fall backwards onto the grass, exhausted but happy. He had learned his one jutsu and now just needed to wait for Mizuki-Sensei to come test him on it.

Two minutes later, after which the blonde's body had recovered somewhat, another person entered the small clearing. Someone not Mizuki-Sensei.

"Ha! Iruka-sensei!"

"You idiot!" shouted the scar-faced Chuunin "Ifoundyou!"

The blonde sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Ha,yeah... I guess you did. Anyway, I managed to learn one Jutsu from this scroll, so now I just have to show it to you and I can graduate, right? Iruka-sensei?"

This statement was more than enough to confirm the Academy teacher's suspicions. The boy was being used. "Graduate? you already graduated. Naruto, who told you that?"

"Mizuki-Sensei did! He told me about this scroll and the secret test to actually pass at the academy, if I just learned a Jutsu from it, then he told me where to find it and even gave me a map complete with guard routes! See?" The short blonde was clearly overjoyed with his success, and Iruka-Sensei was not in the least looking forward to what he would have to explain to the boy he had grown so close to. Fortunately, he was saved from having to do this. Unfortunately, the thing that saved him were Kunais flying straight towards the two of them.

Naruto, his body still recovering from the intense training he had just gone through, saw the kunai coming but was unable to react in time. Instead Iruka-Sensei shoved him out of the way, leaving the man himself with no time to dodge the oncoming sharp metal objects. He was able to keep himself from any bad injuries, though. After making sure his sensei wasn't badly hurt, the blonde turned to face the bastard who had just attacked them, only to find himselfveryconfused. It was Mizuki-sensei. Mizuki-sensei had just tried to kill both of them.

"Good job finding the idiot."

"I see, so that's what's going on."

"Naruto, give me the scroll."

"Naruto! Whatever happens, don't give him the scroll! It's filled with dangerous jutsu! Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"

"Naruto... There's no point in you having that scroll. I'll tell you the truth."

" NO Mizuki DON'T!"

"You know about the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago, right?"

"MIZUKI! STOP THIS!"

"What you don't know is that, that same day, a law was made, a law that only you, Naruto, are not allowed to know about."

"NARUTO! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!"

"A law that no one is to say that you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

"You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

The Kyuubi no Kitsune!

The words hit Naruto like a ton of bricks and he swore his heart stopped for a moment.

Everything made so much more sense now, why the villagers hated him and no one took him seriously. A chill spread through out Naruto as he wondered if Ino and Kiba knew...they were his only friends if he didn't have them, then what would he have?

What would they think if they knew Naruto was a demon and that he'd killed the fourth hokage?

"SHUT UP!" Naruto yelled in all his anger.

"What's wrong? Do you not want to accept what you really are? Well I don't care! SO HURRY UP AND DIE, KYUUBI!" He could see the giant Shuriken clearly as it flew through the air towards him. Dodging out of the way wouldn't have been difficult, but did he really want to? What was waiting for him back at the village.

Wouldn't it be worth giving up his life to fully remove the Kyuubi from this world? He wouldn't even have to do anything, just stand there and let Mizuki's large Shuriken cleave through his neck. It would all be over soon.

"schlick"

There was the unmistakable sound of metal sliding into flesh, but the sudden burst of pain the blonde had expected never came. He was still alive.

It took him a moment to realize what had just happened. "I-Iruka-Sensei? Why?"

The scarred chuunin, his face only inches from Naruto's own, was smiling, crying, and trying to hold back his pain all at once. "I-I understand... a bit of what you've been through. When my parents died... no one really seemed to care about me. I would act like an idiot, just to get people's attention. I was never very good in school, so it was all I could do to make people notice me. But the whole time... I was always in so much pain. It must have been so painful for you too, right Naruto? I'm so very sorry... If I had just paid a bit more attention, maybe you wouldn't have had to hurt so much...but I'm glad that you at least had Kiba and...Ino"

"HA! Don't lie to the damned brat, Iruka! You hate him just as much as I do! HE'S THE ONE THAT KILLED YOUR PARENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

The young demon container was horribly confused. He didn't know who to believe or what to think, so he did the only thing he could. He ran.

He ran and ran, as fast and as far away as he could and slumped up against the base of a tree. For the first time he could ever remember, he was completely lost.

He had no idea of how long he spent just sitting there, trying to figure things out and breathing heavily, .

A voice suddenly caught his attention "H-How, Naruto? How did you know... ...I wasn't Iruka?"

"Because...I'm Iruka."

"Iruka, you sicken me. You'd even transform into the monster that killed your parents in order to protect him."

"I'll never let someone like you get their hands on the Forbidden Scroll!"

"You idiot! With the secrets in that scroll, you can do anything! There's no way the Kyuubi wouldn't use that kind of power!"

"You're right..."

Still behind the tree, having not moved an inch the entire time, Naruto felt like his heart had just broken. "So that's it, then. Iruka-sensei never believed in me."

"The Kyuubi would do something like that. But Naruto's different. He's one of my students! He may not be the best, but he always tries hard, he's brave and he never gives up! People may not accept him, but he knows what it's like to be in pain, he's true to himself and no matter what he went through he's still here! He's not the Kyuubi at all! He's a future ninja of Konoha! He's Uzumaki Naruto!"

Iruka-Sensei's words were everything at that moment,they were like a lighthouse in a storm or hot soup on a sick day but were they enough? Naruto still felt as though he were losing himself even after everything he'd gone through.

"Whatever," it was Mizuki-teme talking now, "Iruka, I was going to get rid of you later, but now I've changed my mind! JUST DIE!"

The young ninja-in-training didn't even think about it. He launched himself around the tree and, seeing the pale-haired bastard running at his sensei with his second giant shuriken ready for the kill, leapt directly in his path. It was so sudden that the traitorous jerk didn't even have time to react until after Naruto's foot had firmly implanted itself in his head, sending them both flying in different directions.

"Why you little-"

"If you ever lay a finger on my sensei again...I'LL KILL YOU!!!!" He could feel himself overflowing with rage. Something inside of him was laughing, daring him to kill Mizuki but he was Uzumaki Naruto, damn it, and there was no way he was going to lose to some oversized ball of fur.

"Ha! A stupid failure like you? I'll kill you in one hit!"

"Just try it, you troll faced bitch!!! I'll deal back any pain you give me a thousand times over!"

"THEN DO IT, KYUUBI!"

Naruto made a set of hand signs. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

There was a huge burst of smoke, and suddenly over a thousand grinning Narutos littered the area. Mizuki-Sensei was too terrified to even speak.

"What's wrong?" all the clones said at once, "Weren't you going to kill me in one hit? Well then, I'll go first!"

Nearly fifteen minutes later, the boy's white-haired former instructor was little more than a bleeding, twitching lump of bruises on the ground. Daylight was beginning to creep into the sky. "Hehe, I guess I might have over done it." He gave Iruka-sensei a sheepish grin.

"Naruto, come over here a minute." The scar-faced chuunin was still sitting propped up against the tree. That wound in his back must have really been hurting him.

"I wanted to say thank you, Naruto, for saving my life," he was slowly making his way to his feet as he spoke, "and tell you how proud I am of you for being who you are."

"Whaddya mean, Iruka-sensei? I should be the one thanking you. After Mizuki-Sensei told me about the fox, I was about ready to forget who I was. You saved me by believing in me back there."

The man smiled. "Okay, I've decided. Close your eyes, I'm going to give you a present."

Naruto could hear what sounded like Iruka-sensei fiddling with some kind of cloth. After a moment, the sound stopped. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Go ahead." The blonde opened his eyes to see Iruka-Sensei's smiling face, his own goggles held in the man's hand. Wait, if he had the goggles, then what was that on his forehead? And where was Iruka-sensei's...?

Hardly daring to believe it could be true, Naruto slowly moved his hand up to the object tied around his forehead, his fingers tracing the cool metal and the symbol of Konoha etched into it but he also felt a line through it, a scratch running across the Konoha symbol from his fight with Mizuki.

Iruka-Sensei noticed this. "It's only temporary , you can get a new one when your ready,"

Naruto smiled and shook his head. " No , this one's fine, "

Naruto felt completely happy. He found himself smiling, not the usual ear-to-ear grin, or the smirk he had whenever he got a good idea for a prank, but a real, warm, open smile of true joy.

"Let's celebrate your victory ; I'll take you to Ichiraku Ramen."

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted, preparing to throw himself at the man and hug him and never let go.

That was when it happened.

He heard it. The distinctive, unmistakable whistling sound of a kunai cutting through the air. He turned towards it. Too close. Too fast. No time to dodge. Then, again, Iruka-sensei was there, somehow, taking the sharp blade right in his shoulder.

Mizuki had regained consciousness just long enough to throw that one deadly knife before passing out again. Iruka-sensei stumbled.

He would have toppled over had Naruto not been there. The young ninja caught him and gently laid him down on the grass. "Iruka-sensei, what's wrong? Will you be okay? Should I take you to the hospital? I-"

"No ... No time.," Iruka-Sensei choked . " Poison... ...fast-acting. Naruto... I'll always believe in you. Follow your dreams... you can do it..."

"I-Iruka-sensei? Iruka-Sensei!? No, please, don't leave me! Not now , IRUKA-SENSEI!"

"Heh... ...look at that. The Kyuubi brat crying over...the body of his dead teacher. How sweet."

Naruto spun to face the voice, Mizuki's voice. He could feel the tears streaming from his eyes, down his cheeks, across his whiskers "I'm going to kill you."

It was strange. He should have been burning with anger and rage like he was before, but he wasn't and he knew why, he was dead...on the inside, he wouldn't have anyone after this. His mind had gone through too much in too short a time, and all he could feel was his grief, a strange calmness, and an absolute certainty that he was going to kill the man in front of him.

Naruto just stood there, glaring at the man relentlessly with blue eyes colder and harder than ice. Even as Mizuki got to his feet and started searching through his pouch for something, the boy didn't move. He did nothing as the man found what he was looking for, a kunai, then he charged at Naruto.

Naruto summoned up all his chakra.

He could still remember, perfectly clearly, one day in their second year when Iruka-sensei had mentioned to the class about chakra overload

"Just like there is chakra exhaustion, there is also chakra overload. If a ninja has more chakra flowing around inside his or her body than it can handle, then the body will start to tear itself apart from the inside as all that chakra tries to escape. Unlike chakra exhaustion, chakra overload is extremely rare, as it requires massive amounts of chakra on a level most Kages never even have. So far, in the history of the Ninja world, there have only been two recorded cases of chakra overload. The first was in..."

Naruto had an idea, a sick one.

Naruto ran across the two yards remaining between them and punched him directly in the center. Mizuki was unprepared for Naruto's physical strength but he managed to hold his ground and grabbed Naruto by the collar, grabbing a kunai into his gut but Naruto got out of his grip and grabbed onto Mizuki's head and before he knew it he was pushing chakra into him, continuously pumping it until Mizuki began to bleed from every hole in his face and his veins bulged before his entire head exploded leaving blood and remains staining Naruto's hands. Sure that the man was now dead , Naruto headed to the Hokage's office. The old man would be the only one to believe him.

Jfgjdjgdkflnbljmkhdgjdjgxj?hfjhfjhlfjhfjhfihchjfhjcilhgjlhfj!gdsjgfjg!!ljhfjlhfjg?fjfyufgjjgfgfhbvvbdd

The old fire shadow nodded, his face was ashen as Naruto recounted his take of tonight's events.

"Oh Mizuki..." The hokage sighed his voice filled with disappointment .

"Ojii-San...I'm going home now..." Naruto voice was soft and broken as he turned around and head for the door.

The hokage pitied him and called out.

" Naruto are you ok? "

Naruto made a stifled croaking sound from his throat and the hokage took that for a yes.

Kiba grunted , pulling Ino atop the head of the hokage monuments , they both let out sighs of relief when they saw Naruto up there as well.

Kiba inched closer to Naruto. "Naruto, you should move away from the edge, you'll fall."

Naruto didn't reply, tears stained his cheeks and he inhaled shakily.

"Naruto," Ino said cutting to the chase. " we were waiting for you, at the river, when you didn't show up we went to the hokage, he told us...what happened, "

"The two of you seem perfectly calm," he said softly . " It's because it doesn't matter to you two! " his voice raised an octave.

"Of course it does, he was our Sensei too,!!" Kiba yelled. " but what your thinking right now!!! He wouldn't want it Naruto!! "

"Your wrong!!" Naruto yelled. " if Uzumaki Naruto died tonight, no one would really miss him. Sure Jiji, you guys, old man Ichiraku, and Ayame-chan would probably be sad for a little while, but you all have other people in your lives. you'd move on. No one else would really care. Hell, half the village would probably celebrate.! "

" Naruto, you know that's not true! If you leave , I'd be lonely!! " Ino cried.

"Why are you crying !?" Naruto snapped, eyes glaring at her. " No one hates you, your well loved by everyone, why would you be crying when nothing's wrong with y-! "

Naruto was cut off when he felt Ino hug him from behind, she tried to pull him from the edge but he wouldn't let her. He couldn't.

"Yes! It's true few people would miss you and the academy students would make fake sappy faces and forget you existed a day after, but suicide is only a permanent solution to a temporary problem...and you know this Naruto!"

" but wouldn't it be worth it? If I died the Kyuubi would leave this world? "

"That's not how it works Naruto!" Kiba was now hugging him trying to pull him away from the edge. He couldn't let them.

"And even if it was so...even if all the happy slogans and quotes lose there meaning anything that keeps you alive Naruto...is worth saying over and over again."

" there is nothing else to say or chant! I'm Useless , I'm a monster , I know I am! "

Kiba hugged him tighter. "No your not Naruto, we graduate officially tomorrow, you have to be there! So don't kill yourself! Don't do it until you change the world with me and Ino, don't kill yourself because you'll miss out on a lot fun stuff! The world will keep spinning on it's axis without you but think about all the ramen you'll never get to eat, and all the fights you'll never win against Sasuke and all the races you'll never have a chance to beat me in!! You can try again and again and I'll keep coming up with reasons why you need to be alive tomorrow !!"

Naruto cried and fell to the ground, he didn't understand , why they would go so far for him?

"Kiba's right , your important , it's a bad day not a bad life, there is more to this Naruto, give yourself one more or ten thousand more days because the future is coming Naruto, I don't need you too see it , I just need you to believe that you can make it until then,"

His friends gripped him in a death hug and Naruto never wanted them to let go.

He was sure now. One day he'd go to sleep and he'd think; I can't wait for tomorrow!

He felt like a weight that He carried had been carried away.

Read and reveiw!


	9. Chapter Nine

I do not own Naruto!!

I Came, I Saw, I Left.

— Tayuya

They were in Konoha, she'd been preparing for this for almost a year now, it was the first time she'd been out of the Sound Village without Orochimaru.

Both her and the rest of the Sound five were tasked with getting into the village, studying it for the entire week, finding weaknesses in their defence, figuring out the best way to infiltrate it when the proper time arrives.

Sakon didn't think it was a good idea but they had decided to split up.

The girl wasn't really one to slack off but the day was nice so she decided to put a mask on and stroll around among the civilians,from what she'd gathered,the leaf village was proud, ignorant and lacking in ninja talent recently, she could literally kill a man and they'd probably take it as an accident.

"Hey!! Someone stop those kids!!" A shrill yell sounded throughout the market place and Tayuya ignored it, she was sure places got robbed a lot in this village just like she was sure the authorities didn't do much when they were complained to.

"Oye Kiba ! Wait for us !" this was a girl's voice, smooth as honey and completely angry.

Before Tayuya knew it three ninja that she assumed were genin , we're heading towards her. One of them was a blonde boy who wore a bright orange jumper and in his hand he carried a pair of ninja shoes and the brown haired boy ran with a brown paper bag, with a load of bread poking out from the top, the girl was empty handed ; hmm princess!

Tayuya sighed. 'so much for ignoring the fucking situation!'

As the genin neared her , they all made faces as if to tell her , get out of the damn way!

Tayuya got into a fighting stance and yelled. "Stop!"

The children came to a halt in front of her.

" hey what's your problem!? " the blonde guy yelled.

The redhead crossed her arms and suppressed a groan. "Aren't you supposed to pay for those things,". She said more than asked.

" we did pay! That guy's just an asshole! " the brunette boy spoke and now that Tayuya was looking, she recognized him as an Inuzuka clan member; what with the fang marks and puppy popping out of his jacket.

Orochimaru had briefed her and the rest of the Sound four on each of the Konoha clans.

"Kiba's right! We paid but that guy's a complete bigot he didn't want to sell Naruto-!"

The girl was cut off by a harsh glare from the blonde boy.

She winced. "Sorry Naruto,"

Behind her mask Tayuya raised an eyebrow, Orichimaru told them of the jinchuuriki and how most villages resented them, putting two and two together she deduced Naruto was probably a jinchuuriki.

"Any way...," The blonde girl spoke again. " You have nice hair, I like the colour red. "

"Yeah..it's nice but, Kushina-San's hair is way prettier because it's brighter than hers,"

The Inuzuka known as Kiba spoke.

Naruto grinned, he looked proud for some reason. "Yeah! He's right Ino,"

" You guy's are being rude! " she whispered sharply.

Tayuya had enough of them and was fully intent on sneaking away when they started their shit but the blonde boy called her.

"Hey, what's your name,"

" Illia, " she lied.

"Illia-San, your a ninja right? What rank are you?" The brunette asked curiously.

"I'm a genin, don't we look the same age?" Tayuya couldn't help but be on edge at all the questions.

"That can't be true!" The blonde girl yelled as she pointed a finger at Tayuya , the redhead had half a mind to break it.

"Why is it not true?"

"First of all only 9 student officially graduated from the academy and your chakra levels are higher than any genin I've ever encountered,"

Under her mask Tayuya twitched in annoyance. 'what the he'll was this bitch's problem!? '

The redhead let out a fake laugh. "You got me, I'm actually a chuunin, I'm actually playing ninja tag with my teammates,hence the Anbu mask. Please don't tell anyone!"

She pretended to be embarrassed. "I mean a ninja playing ninja!? It's ridiculous! But my team forced me,"

The genin looked at with raised eyebrow and Tayuya geared herself up to kill them.

"Okay whatever then," the brunette spoke, "let's go guys,"

Tayuya exhaled with relief; thank God leaf ninjas were idiots.

"Illia-San? What village are from? "

Tayuya growled, she had just about enough with the nosy blonde.

"What the fuck is it to you princess!?"

The girl was taken aback before growing angry. "Hey I'm not a princess!!"

" Oh sure you are, just look you! "

Ino fumed.

"Actually..." Naruto interrupted . "It's heiress,"

Tayuya gave him a what the fuck look.

"Ino-Chan is the heiress to the Yamanka Clan, so that doesn't make her a princess."

Tayuya huffed in annoyance and once again tried to leave; Epic failure.

"Wait! Illia-San!"

" what !? What is it that you want!? "

"Uh...we just wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out with us, while your around anyway?"

People were starting to stare and Tayuya decided to say yes, she would go with them quickly and then go find her team.

Naruto was a little skeptical about bringing this strange girl with them, a long time ago he would have trusted easier but after hearing about the future from Ino and Kiba, how could he? When he first heard the news , he was angry, how could they keep something like that from him? He'd told them a hundred times how much he wanted to know who his family was and they always knew who they were, yet they said nothing, they kept the tale of Ino's future self from him even though they knew about his dream! They shared his dream!

Ino had told him why she did it, she said him figuring it out on his own would help open his eyes and she was right, if he didn't get that extra push, if he hadn't had that confrontation with Mizuki-Sensei then he would have stayed that same naive loud mouthed kid, he wouldn't of gotten that extra push to see just how much the world needed changing.

Even if Iruka-Sensei had to die for that.

Iruka-Sensei.

It's been three months since he died and it still hurt.

The hokage had came to academy the next day when they were to be out in teams.

He told the students that, Iruka-Sensei had an accident on a mission and didn't make it, he then said that Mizuki-Sensei would not be teaching anymore , not giving any explanation at all.

There was no funeral and the truth of Iruka-Sensei's death was kept a secret.

Mizuki's name would not be stained and Iruka-Sensei would be known as the guy who ,

'had an accident and died ' things were like a rollercoaster for Naruto after that.

He was placed on a team with two people that hate him; Sasuke and Sakura.

After all that and all the D-rank missions,he finally got a C-rank only for it to be an A-rank .

He met Zabuza and Haku there. They were cruel examples of the Injustice of the shinobi world. Naruto saw again, just how much the world needed to change.

Though through all the hardship, one thing remained a constant.

Ino and Kiba, they were always there for him.

"Naruto, we're here , "

Ino voice took him out of his reverie and he looked at the large house, a red sign above the door read; " Madame Bovine's Home for the aimless"

"What the fuck is this place!?" Illia cursed.

"An orphanage, "

Naruto answered.

Madame Bovine was a civilian that recently moved to the hidden leaf village, she brought children with her, she said they were all orphans she found wandering around the land of fire, she'd wanted to take care of them and then decided to build an orphanage.

When they met she had somehow known about Naruto and his burden, she said she wished she had been a few years earlier then she would've taken him in and he might not have been so lonely. He thanked her but let her know that He didn't regret the way he was growing up.

"Ino-Neechan! Can you braid my hair!?"

As they entered, Ino was bombarded by some girls who had grown fond of her after their many visits.

Naruto smiled as Ino patted their heads. "Sure let's go to the couch!"

" kiba-Niisan! Can we play fetch with Akamaru!? "

Another group of Kids came up to Kiba jumping around like hyper kangaroos.

"Hai, I guess I'm going back outside then Naruto!"

" Yeah, I'm gonna say hi to the old lady, "

Naruto walked into the kitchen and he felt Illia following behind him.

"Naruto-Kun,good evening,"

Naruto smiled and took a seat at the table, illia did the same.

"Who's your friend?" She asked placing a fruit bowl in front of him.

" that's Illia-San, we met at the market today, " he stuffed pineapple rings down his throat.

Illia glared at the old woman behind her mask. "So why did you decide to take in all these kids? What are you getting out of it?"

If there was one thing Tayuya hated it was false kindness, before Orochimaru found her, she had been to many orphanages and they were in no way as sunny and kind as this place, there had to be some kind of hidden motives.

Madame Bovine tilted her head curiously. "Why whatever do you mean child,"

" Illia-San your being rude! " Naruto said sharply.

"Shut up. I know you get something out of this! So what is it?!" Her voice raised somehow.

" Well, I suppose, I just like taking care of people, children are nice , you spend enough time with them and they teach you things, " the old woman replied.

"Your lying ! Your getting something, free market supplies, free medical treatment!?"

The old woman shook her head. "Sorry no,"

She was about to retort when a kid entered, a young boy about five years old.

The kid made weird signals with his hands.

"Who is that weirdo?" She asked.

Naruto seemed angry at her words but held his temper, he walked up to the boy and patted his brown hair. "This is Eiji, he's one of the few kids here that want to be a ninja, he's mute though so he's gonna have to work harder than everyone,"

Tayuya dropped her head, ashamed. "So what he was doing with his hands was sign language?"

" Hai! He asked me to help him with his kunai aim, so I'll be outside if you need me, "

Tayuya stopped him. "He should give up,"

Naruto glared at her. "What?" He growled.

" He should give up, no one's gonna respect him, being a ninja will only bring him pain! He'll never make it. "

Naruto tensed and his fist tightened. "Could you just shut up!"

" excuse me!? "

"I said shut up! Eiji can do anything he puts his mind too, he just needs to try and he has more than enough drive!"

Tayuya slamed her fist on the table. "Where do you get off giving a kid false hopes like that!?"

" Where do you get off telling a kid what he can and can't do!!!?? " he yelled completely pissed.

"I know from experience!!"

" You don't know shit! Eiji is talented and I know that He can do it, so I won't let you put him in a box called failure, So shut up before I-! "

Naruto was cut off by the old woman smacking him on the head. "Naruto-Kun we don't yell at girls,"

" Hey she's a ninja, she can deal with it, "

Naruto grabbed the boy's hand and ran outside.

The old woman smiled at Tayuya and handed her a fruit bowl of her own.

"Why don't you go explore the house?"

Tayuya played fetch with Kiba and the rest of the kids she accidentally laughed about five times, she'd never felt so warm in her life.

She came back back to see the Yamanka girl putting a baby to sleep, she walked up to Ino as she placed the child in her crib.

Ino smiled at her. "Sorry we dragged you here, did you at least have fun out there?"

" i did, " she said truthfully.

"Tell me Ino,why do you come here, surely your not obligated to?"

" Well, Naruto has this notion that we're like a team of superheroes, it grows on you, I like helping people, everyone knows the world is a cruel place, but somehow I think me and Kiba and Naruto can change it, all these laughs... "

Ino looked at the children playing outside. "I want to protect it, because they deserve that much, being so young."

Tayuya looked into Ino's eyes and she saw the same determination Naruto had in his when defending that kid and she saw the same mischievous glint Kiba had in his eyes when playing with the children and now here was Ino with an unending kindness in her eyes talking about saving the world.

Something between a laugh and a cry left Tayuya's lips. "That's so fucking dumb!"

She placed a hand on Ino's shoulder and squeezed, looking into her eyes.

"The chuunin exams are in a month, they allow killing, also..."

Tayuya stared at her hoping she would somehow understand, pick something up a little.

"Something bad could happen so, be careful, be on your guard and trust no one except your friends and please don't die,"

Tayuya made a hand sign and vanished , leaving Ino confused.

She didn't know why, why she was trying to warn that girl and her friends, why she so desperately wanted them to live through the invasion.

Some part of her hoped she could come back here and feel this kind of warmth again. This kindness, this feeling of being home.

Wishful thinking Tayuya.


	10. Chapter Ten

The first time I kinda believed

\--Tayuya

"So you can play the piano princess" Ino jumped along with the rest of the children at the piano with her.

"Illia-San! Your back again today" Ino smiled, since the day Tayuya took off suddenly she's been coming back often to spend time with them.

Tayuya avoided eye contact with her, "yeah"

There was an awkward pause for a moment before Tayuya sat at the piano bench with Ino. "So where are the boys?"

" Kiba's in the kitchen with Ms.Bovine and Naruto's training with his team, "

"So you guys aren't on the same team?"

" unfortunately so, but we've known each other long enough that that doesn't matter"

"Can you play me something?" Tayuya asked?

Ino's face went red, "I ... I don't know , I'm not that good honestly"

"Don't lie Ino-Neechan, your great!," One of the orphan children yelled.

"Uh... Oh, okay, "

As she cracked her knuckles and searched for a certain sheet of music, Tayuya suddenly became aware of the fireplace that was alive with the crackle of the logs burning away. Ino opened her binder up and carefully removed a single sheet of paper before placing the binder back on the stand . The piece had been written by hand, but the notation was immaculate; Ino looked as though she could read everything perfectly clear. Every note, every symbol, it was all clear but what caught Tayuya's eye was the title.

A Hero's Lament.

Ino's lips slowly slid into a gentle smile, and she took a more comfortable position at the little black bench and sighed.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, looking back at the music, she began to play…

Tayuya sat beside Ino on the bench , hands clasped together. Yesterday after she had left, she kept coming back to what Ino had said to her. She knew deep down that the princess was right; The children , young as they were deserved a future, and yes, she was wrong about what she said about the mute kid… mostly. But as much as Tayuya hated to admit it, she was being selfish. She knew the dangers of coming back here to hang out with them , listening to the piano and shirking her duties while her team was gathering Intel on the village but she couldn't help it, she didn't want to leave, she wanted to stay and play games and and eat warm food with the stupid princess , jinchuuriki , and Inuzuka boy.

She'd only known them for barely two days. She cared about what would happen to them somehow, But here she was hanging out like it was nothing and putting them all in danger. Tayuya was afraid. Not so much afraid that they would get hurt (of course, that concern was there as well.)

What she was afraid of was losing them. While she'd only known them for two days, she wanted to see them grow , she wanted to grow with them because she knew something like that would be fun.

It was time for Tayuya to admit that, as much as it hurt for her to do so, she had to let them go. Wherever the road takes the three of them, she had to let them go…

Tayuya lifted her head, her eyes widening as she remembered Ino was playing the piano. And the piece she was playing was… it was beautiful

Tayuya held tightly to her thoughts as she threw her head back and exhaled , the tears pricking at her eyes made her thankful she was wearing a mask .

immediately, her mind whisked her back to her youth as Ino closed her eyes yet her fingers still moved expertly over the keys

In the future when she really leaves with her team , Tayuya would try everything to regain the sense of security that she felt now.

No one noticed Kiba standing at the door and Naruto who came back from training sat at the couch along with Ms. Bovine.

Ino's Dancing hands, otherworldly, spiritual movements, it spoke to them , it told them a story; THEIR story.

As the notes hit their ears they were transfixed on the beauty of the fingers dancing on the ivory keys. The blonde wispy hair from the beautiful face moving with an unnatural wind.

With each slight nod of her head her spirit became almost an aura. These keys, to her, was a touch to a lover. Almost asleep, possessed, They all waited on the climax.

The crescendo spoke, it said: Life. The whole room went away and it became only the four of them . Everything around was a blur, a transcending experience. Finally, after the exhausted experience, as the last beautiful note hit and the resonance filled. A breath of air was both replaced with joy and sadness. A relief but a longing.

The four stared at each other as Miss Bovine and the children left the room.

There was a long silence and Ino cracked her knuckles before speaking.

"When did you get back Naruto?"

" just in time it would seem"

" You got better Ino, you sure you wanna be a ninja? " Kiba joked.

"Don't be stupid baka!"

Tayuya stood up from the bench, " I should leave , my team might be looking for me"

"Oh," Kiba spoke, he gestured to her fake ANBU mask , " are you playing ninja with your team again? "

" Yes, " Tayuya put on a fake embarrassed voice , " remember you guys promised you wouldn't tell, "

Before anything else was said a young kid came in the room. "Illia-San, the old lady asked if you'd stay for lunch,"

" ah you guys should eat with out me , I'll be outside washing Akamaru, "

Tayuya contemplated for a moment and decided she should stay, she would be leaving tomorrow anyway.

Lunch was quite an event, given the strange way everyone interacted with one another, she saw the louder more brash side to Ino when it came to stealing her dessert and Tayuya also witnessed the gluttony and greed Naruto had when it came to ramen , she experienced the loud nihilism of some of the orphan and made guesses as to which one of them would become the mother hen of any future friend group. As an orphan herself Tayuya had no idea they could smile and laugh so much not did she expect their dark humor , she found it a bit unfair how unlucky she was, these kids lost there family but gained another one with caring lady who could cook, Tayuya never knew her family but she was picked up by a paranoid psycho and experimented on.

Sigh. Life was such a Hack.

She swept her bowl of rice to side, looking over the others coolly. A few giggled , "She's so cool!" but the rest either kept their eyes to their plates or went back to their (now slightly hushed) conversations. Ino forced an encouraging smile but Tayuya shrugged it off.

"So how are things with your team?"

"Well enough," Tayuya said shortly.

"Good." The blonde floundered for a topic.

"You know, I'm not really hungry anymore," Tayuya said, and it was true. She'd had almost an entire bag of jelly beans over the course of the day, plus a cup and a half of hot chocolate from Mrs.Bovine.

"Oh," Ino said. "Well, you don't have to stay if you don't want to."

"All right." Tayuya considered adding see you around but decided against it; obviously they would not see each other again. So she simply stood, scraped her uneaten mound of rice into the fire, and strode out of the dinning room like she had somewhere to be. She didn't, but there was no reason to bring up technicalities.

The house was quiet once she got out of the dinning room; Tayuya walked down the main path, committing the layout of the orphanage to memory as best she could, and eventually , 'just for a minute', she told herself. she sat down behind a metal shed on the far side of the strawberry fields just near the house . It was a quiet, solitary place, out of the way of anyone leaving dinner.

Ugh. She was already missing this place, the loud noise of the children over Naruto and Ino's banter and Kiba cooing over his slobbery puppy,not that anyone would ever hear her say it though . Coming back here hurt.

Actually, it hurt, in more ways than one. A noise attracted her attention—she called out, "Hey, is someone there?"

Suppressing a groan, Tayuya pushed herself to her feet and stepped around the shed just in time to come nose-to-nose with an shirtless ninja. Kiba. Her eyes narrowed, but he held up his hands and backed away before she could pull out her kunai.

"Whoa there, pretty lady ," he said hastily , she thought the nickname was absurd since she always wore a mask. "No need for violence. I'm not here to talk to you, sad to say. I just went to get Akamaru, I've been chasing him for minutes now just to give him a bath, "

She noticed said dog on his head and found it crazy that he hadn't bathe the dog yet.

Clenching her hands into fists, she didn't attempt to slit his throat, which she felt was a noble improvement on her part. "Why don't you go to lunch?" she asked coldly.

"Not hungry," he said like it should have been obvious. "Not that they're likely to notice whether I'm there or not.Ino and Naruto are deaf and blind when it comes to food"

She doubted that. Surely no one else caused the same level of chaos as he did.

"But anyway," he continued, a forced pleasantness to his tone, "I'm just, you know, hanging out over here on this side of the shed. You can sit on that side of the shed, and that way neither of us has to leave, and you don't even have to look at me."

At that moment she noticed the buckets of water and sponges around one side of the shed.

Not having to look at him did sound nice. She looked him over, checking for any plots or tricks or dangerous weapons, but he seemed to mean it. Against her will, she moved back between the strawberry fields and the metal wall, and the thick grass rustled as they both sat back down. She stared out into the fields, her mind whirring though her lips remained clamped together. She was certainly not going to instigate conversation with the Inuzuka .

Actually, now that she thought about it, Inuzuka was remaining pretty quiet himself. She had expected loud, obnoxious ADHD antics, or at the least, pathetically doomed attempts to flirt But no, he didn't address her at all, and she couldn't hear anything from his side of the shed except the occasional heavy breath and splash of water from Akamaru.

This was when Tayuya's mouth went against all her better judgment: she found herself leaning toward the corner of the wall and calling around it, "Are you usually this accommodating?" She didn't remember him to be.

Inuzuka laughed a little; it sounded tiny through the shed. "No," he called back. "Normally I try my best to be as unaccommodating as possible. It's part of my ability to simultaneously charm and annoy the shit out of people."

"That I believe. The annoying part, anyway."

She had been serious, but he laughed again, and she could just picture that huge grin splitting his face one similar to Naruto. "One should not insult my ability to annoy. I'm glad you can appreciate it."

"I don't think 'appreciate' is the word I would use," she said.

"I know." He was quiet again, and Tayuya began to wonder if she ought to say something else, but then he said, "I don't think anyone would use the word 'appreciate,' actually."

He didn't sound excited, but she had to agree, "Probably not."

Kiba groaned when it seemed like Akamaru licked him somewhere—maybe his hand, or his face, she couldn't tell. "You want to know why I'm actually out here?" he asked, sounding tired. She didn't think he was smiling anymore.

"Why?" Tayuya asked. She meant to come off coolly polite, but actual concern somehow got in there too.

"For the next two weeks we're going to be preparing to fight our friends and kill people we don't even know ."

She knew this, obviously. He continued, "But if I'm not the most enthusiastically insane person , laughing it off and pretending I'm not scared, it'll be all , What's wrong, Kiba? Aren't you happy, Kiba? Here, do you want walk my dog, Kiba? Because God forbid I ever be upset about anything." water splashed on the other side of the shed again.

Tayuya was surprised by the turn in the conversation. "Have you mentioned this to any of your friends? Ino and Naruto? "

Kiba snorted. "They're the ones I need to stay happy for, they're worried to but if happy ,unbreakable Kiba is worried too then, oh God the world's ending! "

Tayuya opened her mouth, but he hurried to say, "Not that I'm looking for pity points or anything, I'm a ninja afte—" Suddenly he cut himself off, like he'd reconsidered what he was about to say. "Never mind."

She didn't ask. She probably didn't want to know. Instead she rolled her robes up to her knees, pulled off her sandals and dug her toes into the cool dirt, thinking. Back to the topic at hand: "You could just not participate until you're ready to...kill I mean" she said, even though she knew it was a long shot.

"That's not an option, and you know it," Kiba called her out, but suddenly he spoke again. "Hey will you be there , to watch?"

"I don't know, I was considering not going," she lied

" please if you come watch I'll feel so at ease and Naruto and Ino They'll want you there too." He paused. "Why don't you want to go? Too undignified?"

Too undignified. She scrunched up her toes in the dirt and actually almost smiled. "Not quite. I'm just not aware of what my schedule will look like I could have a mission ."

Kiba was quiet. She guessed that he wasn't sure whether to agree or try again.

"Missions huh? Chuunin missions must be real tough?"

"It's not a problem," she lied. "I'm perfectly used to it. I just usually have duties as a ninja that make it inconspicuous."

Kiba mumbled something to himself; Tayuya couldn't quite make it out, but she did hear "a Chuunin and a Genin " and "same problem." And it occurred to her then, quite as a surprise, that Kiba's happy-go-lucky, flirtatious, obnoxious presence as a jokester might be as much of a mask as her own stoic, courageous presence as a ninja. Another false public face. Did his friends even realize it?

Tayuya realized that, although this was the third time she'd "met" Kiba Inuzuka, it was only the first time she'd truly MET him.

"If you want somewhere out of the way to hang out," Kiba offered, sounding both eager and hesitant . " maybe we could all take a vacation after the chuunin exams, we always wanted to see a real beach, there aren't any in Konoha. "

He probably didn't even know that ninjas aren't allowed to leave there villages unless on a mission.

She leaned back against the shed, looking up at the sinking sun. "I might," she said, but she didn't mean it.

Two Days Later.

Sakura Frowned as she walked passed training field nine , she pretended not too hear the laughter of , Ino , Naruto and Kiba training together, the fact that absolutely none of them were on the same team didn't seem to be present in their minds as they sparred together.

Sakura didn't particularly care if they knew either , she was just feeling peculiarly irked seeing them so happy together, when she couldn't even have a proper conversation with her team anymore, Naruto stopped being loud right after they were placed on the same team, it's like he didn't care for her attention or Sasuke's attention anymore, though the two still fought like cats and dogs, a lot of times it was Sasuke who provoked Naruto with a non-verbal dig , it was like the lack of Naruto challenging him constantly , made him insecure and not in a cool way, more so in a pathetic way. Nowadays Naruto and Sasuke were constantly at each others throats , it's a wonder they haven't killed each other yet. Naturally Sakura would always take Sasuke's side, as if she would ever admit Naruto was right and that Sasuke was being a little bitch, that would mean admitting she was wrong, meaning Ino would be right, again. Ino was right that Sasuke was a jerk and in no way as great as she thought, She'd have to admit that she was a fool for breaking up with her only friend over a stupid boy, a boy who didn't give her the time of day and refused to admit when he was wrong , constantly cried out for vengeance and probably wouldn't matter to anybody in the long run and , Sakura would would have to apoligize, swallow her pride and beg for forgiveness and that, in Sakura's opinion was like admitting defeat to Ino, saying Ino was better than her ,she couldn't do that so she held her disgust in and whenever Ino came to training field seven to see Naruto , Sakura would go into squealish girly mode and glomp Sasuke and profess her undying love for him.

Secretly Sakura knew she was just jealous and maybe a little bitter, Ino was beautiful ,perfect hair , perfect skin ,secretly Sakura wondered if Naruto wanted to date her, who wouldn't after all; she was first place in the academy and was pretty confident, practically heaven sent!

She was perfect, there's no way to deny she's lovely, deep inside Sakura tried to convince herself that Ino was ugly on the inside but it wouldn't work, not with everything Ino's done for her.

Sakura just couldn't help but hate Ino , she was always the star , the best part of every scene and everyone loved her , only Sakura just wanted to hit her.

Sometimes When Sasuke and Naruto were off fighting she would ask Kakashi for some extra training, the pervert tried his best but Sakura never quite felt chuunin exams ready yet,for all she knew she could end up in a fight with Ino, she just couldn't lose to that girl!!

"what's with the look on your face?" Sakura jumped , looking besides her to see a purple haired ninja lady grinning down at her, she had a stick of dango in one hand and twirled a kunai in her other hand, her trench coat swished with every move.

" who the hell are you!? "

"Anko Mitarashi, the pleasure is all yours, now answer my question?"

Sakura chose her words carefully. "Well I've been having trouble with my training."

Anko grinned wider, "oh? ...well I'm a Jounin y'know?"

" Huh? so? " Sakura answered oblivious .

"Come on Kid I need something to do before I have to baby sit at those Chuunin exams next week, follow me. " she smirked.

Anko strutted forward and Sakura followed her half excited, half so very confused.

Done . I do not own Naruto

Read and Review.


	11. Chapter Eleven

I don't own Naruto

Chapter ten ; Oh No My Icy Heart is melting!

Tayuya.

Naruto stood in the corner of the hokage's office, a scowl on his face and his arms crossed, since what happened with Iruka-Sensei , Naruto and the old man hadn't been as close as they used to be, in fact he didn't even like being near him anymore.

"Naruto-Kun,Ino-Chan, is there a reason for you two being here?"

Ino, who looked to be slightly nervous, spoke first. "Hai Hokage-Sama, we've come to warn you about the chuunin exams,"

"Before I was born my future self came to me , i think she was using some form of the mind body switch jutsu she wanted to take my place because something terrible had happened to the future,"

Ino then went into an entire rant about the future, her words were slurred as she spoke of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura and the war and how the chuunin exams were dangerous and she skipped out some pointless parts as she was tired of repeating this story to people.

The hokage nodded on to her words without any interruption and when she was done he sighed, a heavy , tired sigh and lit his pipe.

"Ino-Chan you don't expect me to believe all that do you,"

Naruto yelled. "Of course we do! She's telling the truth! How do you think she figured out that I was the Kyuubi way before I did!?"

" I have my theories on that but I also know that there is no such ability as time travel, and there is no way that your future self could have visited you, "

"But, I know what i saw! She told me about Sasuke and a war, she told me about a girl named Sakura Haruno before I even met her!" Ino cried.

" And even if I believed you, what would you have me do about this? "

"Cancel the exam, what else!?" Naruto exclaimed.

" Naruto, the chuunin exams are a way to showcase a Nation's strength, we show our strenght by showing off the strength of our ninja, that being said there is no way I can cancel the chuunin exams, besides all five nations will be participating , what will people think if Konoha suddenly did not participate? "

Naruto glared at the man and a growl escaped him. "I don't know, what would they think?"

" They'd think we were weak!! Cowards Naruto!! Rumors would spread of the leaf village losing it's edge , we'd be prone to attacks from all over! "

The hokage's voice raised in all his passion.

"But your already prone to attacks!" Ino butted in.

The hokage sighed,tired of arguing with loud blonde children; hadn't he had enough with Tsunade?

"If it makes you feel any better I'll tighten the security, I'll order the Anbu to search for any unauthorized entry to the village,"

The genin sighed . "Fine" they left and Naruto purposefully slammed the door.

A few days later_

"And then I said, 'what shape's a sociopathic bitch !?"

Naruto and Kiba busted out laughing at their shared joke, they held their tummies as tears spilled from their eyes and their sides ached.

" Okay, Okay, I got one! " Naruto laughed. "What do you tell a cat about to walk on wet paint?"

Kiba struggled to answer through his laughter. "Tehee! PAWS!"

The two collapsed in laughter once again , tapping their hands on the floor as if it would help them.

"Naruto! Kiba!"

Ino ran up too the two and knelt before them. "Why are you on the ground?"

To two took time too compose themselves before speaking. "We just have great comedic timing is all,"

She winced,somehow those two convinced themselves they were funny.

" Okay, I have great news though! "

"What?"

Ino took both their hands in her's and looked them in the eye.

' it's telepathy, '

The boy's heard her voice resound through out their mind and instinctively pulled away from her.

"What was that!?" Kiba yelled and asked.

" like I said it's a yamanka technique, though only a few people can use it, daddy says I'm special! " she grinned excitedly.

Naruto scratched his neck. "Mind explaining how it works?"

" when I touch people, I pass my thoughts to them and they can pass their's to me, I can also read their minds as well, "

"So it only works when your touching people,"

" Actually, I'm suppose to be able to do it without physical contact, something about sensing chakra but I'm no good at that, I suppose I'll get better as I'm older. "

She explained.

"And that's all?" Naruto prodded.

" dad said I'm also supposed to be able to sense emotions in touch as well, but I'd have to practice...funny thing though...this ability only awakens in our clan every 2000 years and only One person out of thousands can get it. "

"Well," Naruto placed a hand on her head and smiled. " like you said your special. "

She smiled warmly a red colour coating her cheeks as she resisted the urge to hug him.

"Any way," Kiba interrupted. " since the Hokage, won't be much help it's up to us to protect the village at the chuunin exams"

"You right, I've been researching a lot about my mother's clan, Uzumaki's specialized in sealing jutsu, I'm hoping I might have some natural talent." Naruto stated.

" Good luck then Naruto, I'm actually working on more jutsu with Akamaru, what about you Ino? "

The girl blinked. "I went on a diet, so I can get healthier and faster," she nodded completely proud of herself.

"That's so dumb, why would you do that?"

" Oh come on Naruto diets are great just give it a chance! "

" Diets cause hunger, hunger causes anger and anger causes hate, "

Kiba nodded along with Naruto. "Say no to Hate, Say no to Diets,"

Ino groaned. " but Kiba's right, we are on our own but we can at least warn the others that are entering, "

"You mean like tell them of the future!? "

"No! That could cause a butterfly effect! I mean we can give them a cryptic warning,"

" by the way , Ino when are we gonna meet our next member? " Naruto asked.

"You mean Tayuya, I don't know, my future self said we meet in really challenging circumstances, that could be anytime."

somewhere in Orochimaru's hideout_

"Ssssso...what do you have to report?"

Tayuya and the rest of the Sound four kneeled before Orochimaru in silence before Jirobo stepped forward.

"The leaf village doesn't have competent security, nor are they overly observant ninja, getting in shouldn't be a problem Lord Orochimaru . " the fat ninja got back in line.

"Hmm, and you Sakon, Ukon?"

" there'll be a total of four genin teams entering the exams this year, all jounin sensei's will be on scene . "

"And kidomaro,?"

" Umm, I witnessed the Uchiha being scolded by his teacher, I think there's tension between him and his teammates my lord, I reckon convincing him to leave won't be hard at all. "

The snake summoner, turned to the female member of the team. "And you Tayuya?"

" I'm afraid, I didn't get much my lord, "

"What!?" Kidomaru interrupted her. " but I saw you at the market place before I went off to find the Uchiha! You left with three ninjas and you were always with them after that too, I assumed they were important . Don't you have anything to about them? "

He asked accusingly.

What The Fuck. !? Tayuya didn't know he was there,was he watching her all those days?

"Your right but Orichimaru wouldn't not be interested in them," she answered coolly but she was panicking on the inside.

" But, the blonde boy, he's the jinchuuriki is he not, the Uchiha spoke of him, "

Shit! Shit! Shit!!

Orochimaru smirked and stalked up to Tayuya, coming ever so close to her face.

"Tayuya...are hiding something?"

" No my lord I simply did not realize, "

"Then did you get anything on them? All of them?"

" The girl is a Yamanaka, she seems proficient in Taijutsu and not much else, The Kyuubi is average in Taijutsu but very skilled with his ninjutsu and There's an Inuzuka, he's a tracker and he's fast on his feet, he isn't very skilled in any category though , knowing only enough of everything. "

"Very good Tayuya," Orochimaru smiled.

Something inside Tayuya hurt somehow, she felt guilty and she prayed that somehow those three would survive what was to come.

Done yes!! See you next time.

READ AND REVIEW!!!


	12. Chapter Twelve

I dont own Naruto!!

\--Second Round of the Chuunin Exams--

(The first round is kinda boring so i didnt want to write it)

Ino eventually broke away from her team mates and sauntered towards Naruto, who was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. She announced her presence by smacking the back of Naruto's head.

"Hey."

"What 'hey'?!" the genin growled, rubbing his head. "That hurts, dammit."

The kunoichi chuckled. "If you can't even stand that, how're you going to defeat me?"

"I'm not trying to beat you," Naruto retorted, grinning.

"So, what did you do in Ibiki's exam?"

Naruto was quite conscious of the curiosity in Ino's voice as she waited for an answer, sapphire eyes regarding him patiently.

"Man! If it wasn't for the tenth question I'd be toast!"

She pouted in retaliation. " well I copied from Sakura"

"Of course you did your not as textbook smart as her," Naruto slowly reasoned.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean idiot!?" the pout was replaced by a playful anger, and obvious anticipation danced in her blue orbs. "What do you think we're gonna do next?"

"We're about to know."

Mitarashi Anko was smiling brightly and she looked so joyous that Naruto had the slightest feeling that something bad (or extremely torturous) had been arranged for them. He watched Ino thoughtfully as she went back to her team.

Sighing, he walked closer to Sasuke and Sakura, though they didn't look half as angry as they were before at him (they had been fighting so much lately) . The blonde instinctively heaved a sigh of relief; maybe they're not so bad after all. The remaining twenty two teams that had advanced through the first stage of the Chuunin Exam obligingly crowded around the kunoichi, waiting impatiently for their next instruction. Anko cheerfully brandished a stack of papers, waving them about above her heads.

"You must all sign these documents," the kunoichi happily announced. "We don't wanna take any responsibility if any of you brats died in this exam. So, this is a last chance for anyone that's not up to the challenge to back out and save your sorry ass. Anybody? No one, huh? Good, when you're called, go to that booth over there and you'll receive one scroll for each group. Listen up, this is what your second test going to be."

Naruto gathered as much information from the short briefing as he could, though there was certainly not much to gather. There were two types of scroll; Heaven and Earth. Teams will be given one random type of scroll each and to complete the test, they have to obtain another type of scroll from (obviously) another group. The trick was that they had to make sure that the other group have different scroll than theirs or the fight would be a complete waste of time. The rules were simple and seemed irritatingly vague; if they lose a scroll, they failed. If they lose a team mate, they failed. If they arrive to the tower after the five days limit, they failed. And lastly, if they open the scroll before arriving at the tower, they would also be disqualified.

Now this is what I call a challenge,Naruto thought,though he was still worried about what could happen he was also excited at thought of being chuunin, carefully he hid his glee, as Sasuke and Sakura nodded at each other.At last, a real fight...

"Oi, dobe, are you ready?" the Uchiha survivor raised an eyebrow at Naruto, the annoyingly-superior smirk adorning his pale face.

For once, Naruto didn't feel like lodging a fist into that smirking face. He was far too excited to let his mood to be ruined by some stupid rivalry. Instead, he grinned. "Yeah, time to kick some serious butts!"

Sakura sighed in mock weariness. "That's so like you Naruto..."

"You make it sound as though it's a bad thing," the blonde retorted.

They went to the booth, where two chuunins were waiting. They signed the documents without the slightest hint of doubt and got their scroll; a Heaven scroll. Walking quietly out, they found a spot near their assigned gate; Gate 12. Sasuke held out the scroll, his dark eyes moved from one face to another. They would have to survive the five days in the Forest of Death, guarding their scroll from any attempts by other teams and snatching one Earth scroll in order to pass through this exam. It would be quite difficult, even Naruto had to grudgingly admit that, with twenty two teams hunting down one another. They have to make a wise decision before entering the forest; who was going to protect the scroll in future fights?

"I suggest that Sasuke-kun keep it," Sakura pretended to enthusiastically chirp. "He's the strongest among us three anyway!"

"Strongest, my ass."Naruto snorted out nonchalantly .

" it's true idiot !!Sasuke-Kun is the rookie of the year!!! "

"On come on his power is so half baked you would think it was cookie dough!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the nonchalant look displayed on Naruto's face, before glancing down at the scroll in his hand. Unexpectedly, he thrust it forward, towards the blonde genin. "You keep it."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Eh? But... but why?"

"He looks weak," that reply from the raven-haired genin made Naruto bristle with anger but he defiantly ignored the remark, chanting self-soothing word inside his head. Sasuke smirked. "Others won't expect him to have the scroll."

Naruto snatched the scroll away and carefully tucked it away into his back pocket, grumbling out incoherent words that made both Sasuke and Sakura stare at him. The blonde arched an eyebrow and looked away.Five days with Your Lordliness Sasuke-bastard... Maybe I'm the one who's gonna kill him inside there. No, can't do that. I'll fail the exam and I'll only prove to everyone that jinchuuriki are nothing but monsters,

"Come on," Sakura suddenly spoke out, pointing at a grinning Anko. "I think she's about to let us in."

And thus, the second stage of the Chuunin Exam began!

They had been walking for more than twenty minutes then.

And no other soul was in sight.

Naruto was growing restless. He wanted to just freakin' find a group, beat them up senseless, got the right scroll and waltzed towards the tower. That would certainly save a lot of time and nerve. The genin ran a hand impatiently through his blonde spikes, sky-blue eyes warily scanning the surrounding.

The Forest of Death seemed to have lived up to its name, which was not a good thing. There was something definitely creepy about the way those thick canopies loomed above them, blocking out the sunlight and providing potential predators with ideal hideouts. Sakura had walked closer to Sasuke, who was the head of their unlikely procession and Naruto sincerely thought that it was not solely because of her hormones.

It was at that time that he realized a faint trace of chakra, stalking them.

Catching up with the two, Naruto casually leaned forward and whispered, "There's someone following us."

"There is?" Sakura surprised both boys by NOT looking around and letting the enemy know they were aware of being followed.

Sasuke frowned but they continued walking, as though they hadn't noticed anything. The Uchiha glanced at Naruto. "How did you know that before I do?"

Never the one to miss an opportunity to annoy the raven-haired genin, Naruto did his best imitation of a 'Sasuke Smirk' and said, " Simply because I'm better than you."

Sasuke and Sakura flinched in complete unison.

"Shall we go and surprise our beloved stalker?" Naruto offered generously and stopped walking at the same time.

Sasuke and Sakura (again) agreed in unison.

"We know you're there," the blonde lazily shouted out. "Just come out and save our precious time, will you?"

The reply they got was strange.

First the trees creaked near them and the dust was whipped up into the air, semi-blinding them as they looked to the twisters across the plains. There were three of them. Three gigantic columns of violently twisting air rotating around each other. At first they stood there,shocked and out of ideas.

In the tornado there was no way to know which direction was up or down, the usual landmarks were hidden behind the white wind that swirled so densely. Even Naruto's teammate Sakura ,in front of him was little more than a crude flash of a pink human mostly erased by the constant spinning of the tornado. Naruto could feel his blood cool and his skin tore from the sharp winds. Disorientation was a given; and the spinning was a killer. he cried out for Sakura to turn but the wind tornado carried his voice faster than he could speak.The world was being erased around him and he'd be with it if they didn't find shelter...in a fast burst of energy the tornado suddenly dispersed,Naruto flew out,Sakura and Sasuke went into a direction he didn't see.

The blond flew several yards away ,he felt himself crash into a tree,breaking it on impact before rolling to the floor.

"What the he'll was that?!" The boy groaned, as he sat up on something soft and rubbed his head.

"N-Naruto!!I-I can't breathe!!"

Said a breathless voice.

The blonde boy looked below himself and gasped as he realized he was sitting on Ino's back.

He blushed and rolled off of her quite comically.

"I-Ino! What are you doing here!?"

She got up and he noticed her clothes seemed to be messy and torn,her hair was also dishelved as well as there being small scrapes on her skin.

"There was this Gigantic tornado,my team and I got caught up in it and when it dispersed we all got scattered,"

She eyed him carefully, "did the same thing happen to you?"

He nodded and smiled before offering her his hand,

"Come on I'll help you find your team."

She took his hand and gave a smile of her own; of course he would help her at a time like this.

"I'm afraid neither of you are going any where until I get your scroll,"

The two blondes turned around to see one Neji Hyuuga,from his appearance and lack of teammates they guessed he was also caught in the tornado.

Naruto growled, he didn't like Neji Hyuuga.

When Ino had told him to cryptidly warn team Gai Naruto had gotten a front row seat to the way Neji Hyuuga treated everyone in his team,including his own Sensei.

He lorded his clan name over his teammates and everyone else as though he was better than them,the way he treated everyone like dirt reminded Naruto of another stoic,bloody kid with powerful eyes ; Sasuke.

"What do we do Naruto?"

" stay out of it Ino,I'll handle it, "

\--with Sasuke and Sakura--

Uchiha Sasuke gritted his teeth in annoyance.Why the heck did I run?! I'm an Uchiha, dammit! Uchiha didn't run from a fight! This is all that stupid, dead-last, urchin--

"Umm, Sasuke-kun?"

He snapped his head towards Sakura, who was resting besides him. "What?"

"Why are we running?"

Because I'm scared! Damn, even that sounds stupid. "I don't know."

Sakura frowned darkly, her lips pursed into a pout. "Me too. But when that weird guy just appeared like that and Naruto couldn't be found, it seemed like the best thing to do..."

"Hn."

There was something about that Grass nin that made Sasuke uncomfortable. He didn't know how to explain the strange sensation he felt when the genin first stepped out of the shadow. It was as if that nin was... a messenger of death. Sasuke didn't like that sense at all; somehow, it made him feel helpless. He wanted to be strong, not to run away and leave thatdobebehind! He wanted to kill his brother but how could he do it when there was an enemy out there that he didn't dare to face?! The raven-haired genin clenched and unclenched his fists, his mind furiously trying to sort out the best solution for their current situation. They could retrace their steps and search for Naruto. I'm going to pound him to death for this...no! It was a tornado!!

Before Sasuke could set his mind on a suitable plan, a soft hiss attracted his attention and he reluctantly tore away from the thoughts that were forming inside his head. He looked up and his eyes met the eyes of the predator, abnormally long tongue licking the pale face delicately as the Grass nin they had been running away from latched himself to a tree not far from the spot which Sasuke had chosen earlier as a resting place, when they had been tired of running. The nin smirked gleefully at them, his tongue lapping to and fro like a live snake; as though he had been enjoying himself immensely. Sakura was at the verge of vomiting, disgusted by the saliva and the tongue itself; even the fearless Inner Sakura cringed in dread. And Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"Sassssssuke-kun..."

\--back with Naruto--

Naruto charged at Neji first, his fist connecting a bit sluggishly with the Hyuuga's nose.

The long haired boy was shocked,he wasn't expecting Naruto to be that fast .

The blonde his leg up and attempted to kick at Neji but he blocked it,sending Naruto back a few feet.

Grunting softly Naruto ran at Neji again,this time in a big way motion ,attempting to confuse Neji just a little of he could.

The jounin Sensei's in Konoha don't usually do their jobs,Naruto had begged Kakashi to teach him some wind style techniques but Kakashi had constantly told him that he was busy with Sasuke,so in order to help him out Ino had asked her Sensei ,Asuma to help Naruto,the man had said no but Ino pressured him so he halfheartedly explained the leaf cutting exercise to Naruto but then left Naruto to his own devices when it came to actual jutsu.

But Naruto was not one to give up ,so he read scrolls ,upon scrolls and managed to master some basic wind style jutsu, nothing to powerful but,it would definitely help him against Neji.

Doing some quick hand signs Naruto took a deep breath and yelled.

"Wind style: Vacuum bullets!"

Strong gusts of wind were aimed at Neji,it tore his clothes and cut at his skin,he planted his feet firm and brought his arms up to block his face.

When it seemed as though it was over he opened his eyes and was surprised to be met with Naruto's heavy fist to his nose.

Another Naruto ,one he assumed was a clone,kicked Neji in the back and another gave him a right hook to the cheek.

With a dog like cough,the Hyuuga boy fell to the ground with a thud.

Naruto panted as he stared at him,he was sure it was over now,then suddenly the Hyuuga turned into a log.

Naruto got back on guard.

"You should give up,"

Came Neji's voice from behind.

"Your fate was decided the moment we crossed paths in this forrest."

" what's with all this stupid Fate shit you keep going on about!? "

"It's the path you were meant to walk in life,Trust me I would know best,"

Ino breathed heavily as she listened behind the remains of a tree trunk,what Neji was telling Naruto.

He told him about the caged Bird seal,which Naruto no doubt knew about,with all the studying in seals he's been doing lately. Neji spoke of Hinata Hyuuga and how unfit she was to be leader,He went onto talk about his own family and how the branch family was inferior to the main family.

All in all Ino couldn't help but think Neji was a hypocrite.

He spoke about accepting one's fate but he seemed to be constantly fighting against his.

If the Branch family was weaker,why did he fight to become so strong when in the end it would be for nothing,he would still be weaker right ?

If he was meant to protect the branch family ,then why say those things about Hinata,someone that fate declared superior to him?

A sudden gush of pain jolted throughout Naruto's body. His stomach ached, his arms lost tension and his legs began to weaken. "Is your story supposed to make me feel sorry for you?" he sneered at Neji as he dropped to the ground. His tongue was soaked in the taste of blood. Bruised and winded, with a leg in agony, he grabbed the foot of the Hyuuga and pulled him to the ground. His head was pounding. He brought a fist to the Hyuuga's's face, snapping his nose with his knuckles.

They both ignored the unbearable pain and got up,putting distance between each other.

"It's time I end this!" Neji growled .

He ran towards Naruto who was barely standing and shoved a palm into his stomach.

Naruto stiffened and blood ran from his mouth.

"The perfect move to end this match,"

Naruto couldn't move as Neji shoved his palms into his chakra points.

"Two palms!!"

The pain throbs in his guts, it's deep and warm, but not in a nice way.

"Four palms!"

The mud and dirt had become enmeshed and spotted with blood.

"Sixteen palms!"

Naruto let out a strangled scream and felt blood well into his throat from the tongue he had just bitten in a vain attempt to keep quiet.

"Thirty two palms!!"

It kept coming as though it wouldn't seem to end.

"Thirty eight palms!!"

"Sixty-four palms!!"

Naruto who was so energetic went down,stoic,his lips that always stretched into a grin were blue and red respectively,his sun kissed hair was red with blood and his tan skin was deathly pale,in what seemed like death Naruto wasn't himself,his blue eyes were half closed and seemed lifeless as he stared up at the sky unable to even comprehend what he was looking at.

Ino saw and let out an ear bursting shriek.

Neji turned to her and glared.

"Are you going to fight too? It'll only end the same.The boy was weak and fated to lose to me,maybe next time he'll think before attacking someone far super—! "

"SHUT UP!!!!!"

Ino cut him off,her eyes seemed to go fiery red and the air around her seemed to grow hotter.

" YOU WILL NEVER MEET ANYONE ELSE LIKE NARUTO IN A MILLION YEARS!! "

It almost seemed like she was steaming.

"I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO INSULT MY FAVOURITE NINJA!!!!"

she turned to Naruto.

"Naruto !! What are you doing looking so miserable!?"

" you've come to far just to give up!! "

her eyes squeezed shut as she yelled.

"WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING UP IS WHEN I LOVE YOU THE MOST!! SO..."

" YOUR NOT ALLOWED TO LOOK ANYTHING BUT COOL IN FRONT OF ME OKAY!!! "

The boy got up shaking ,heavy breathing and a limping foot but he still smiled at her.

"You're right Ino,I'm sorry,"

"You should get out of here,it's about to be crowded,"

She nodded and ran to find her team.

The blonde boy did a hand sign that he's gotten so used too.

Hundreds of shadow clones filled up the area and Neji cringed in fear and anticipation.

"Na.Ru.To. Uzumaki 2k barrage!!"

Five minutes later.

Neji lay beaten and battered on the floor,unable to move as Naruto walked away,he called after him.

" don't you want my scroll? "

"Hm. It was never about the scroll."

A few minutes later Tenten and Lee had found him.

"My esteemed rival ! Who did this to you?!"

They both helped him to his feet and Neji ignored his question.

"Tenten,Lee,"

" Yes? "

" I'm sorry. "

Somehow they knew what he meant and they smiled softly, "It's okay."

back to Sasuke and Sakura_

Sakura blinked in disgust.His tongue It's, it's so, well, long! She looked uncertainly between Sasuke and the Grass nin, hesitating on their next action. She was feeling slightly worried about that blonde teammate of hers.When they finally got out of the tornado,they hadn't been able to find Naruto. He can't be dead, can he? The pink-haired kunoichi involuntarily shuddered; defiantly forcing back that very thought as she desperately tried to convince herself that Naruto would be fine.Maybe he got lost. Yeah, that must be it!Sakura nodded at that weak attempt of a self-assurance, her mind focusing on the oncoming battle. Sasuke was looking extremely wary and Sakura reluctantly stared at the long haired Grass nin.

To which she immediately regretted doing.

The man slowly displayed his Earth scroll, sneering at the two Leaf nins. "I know that you need my Earth scroll but you will have to try harder to get it," a conceited laugh followed afterwards but that was not the reason why Sasuke and Sakura instinctively took a step back; it was the fact that the Grass nin had wrapped his super-long tongue around the scroll and swallowed it whole that made those two genins winced. In absolute horror. Touching his eyebrow in mild satisfaction, the long haired nin locked his eyes at his two preys. "Now, let the fun begin."

...with naruto...

Dammit! This place is fuckin' confusing! Naruto focused on tracing Sasuke and Sakura's chakra but he soon found out that he actually was no good at all in this chakra-tracing business. The blonde genin groaned in complete annoyance. He increased his speed, bouncing off this tree and leaping towards that tree, in hope that he would get to his two team mates (where in the name of the ramen gods are they?!) . He jumped onto another low branch, avoided a rather thick mass of leaves and stopped to try and locate any sign of chakra nearby.

Naruto didn't feel any chakra, but he definitely smelt something burning.

Somewhere up north,

Or was it south?

Sniffing the air in a very cute Akamaru-like way, Naruto continued to speed forward, before he hesitated and frowned to the opposite direction.Where is it from?! Cursing Sasuke, Neji, the trees and every single thing available, the genin did the only reasonable thing he could; he charged ahead! Who cared about direction when one had unlimited stamina and could always turn back again when one found out that one had been going the wrong way around? But this time, it was a dangerous gamble. The future is at stake and as Naruto flitted through the forest, a grin crept onto his feature. He couldn't wait to see precious Sasuke-kun's face when the so-called dead last came to his rescue.

That very thought acted efficiently as a burst of fuel, urging him to go faster.

Maybe he was lucky that day or maybe he had unconsciously mastered the art of sniffing towards for right direction when Naruto soon could hear a series of explosions, most likely through the exchanges of jutsus from somewhere to his left. He approached the location with caution, having known better than to barge unthinkingly (like he had done in the fight with Haku) into an intense battlefield. He had thought about using genjutsu, as to make himself invisible but dismissed the idea at once, flinching slightly when he remembered that he hadn't really perfected genjutsu yet. Kyuubi's mocking voice as the youkai had oh, so merrily laughed at him when he failed continually at that particular type of jutsu was somewhat hurtful.

I could do just fine without that stupid genjutsu anytime, the blonde thought furiously.

Naruto inched closer, making sure that he was well hidden as not to waste the 'surprise' advantage that he currently hoped on. He peered from underneath an effectively concealed thicket, though it was rather uncomfortable and prickly there. The fight that revealed itself before him does not make the blonde genin excited, so to say, as he watched Sasuke 'cheerfully' dispell fireballs at the Grass nin, to which Naruto noticed had changed his face. It was more snake-like than before, and portrayed obvious maliciousness _who was he?_. It was a face that guaranteed instant dislike by one that followed one's sole instinct. He also noticed that Sakura was nearby, shaking with unknown tremor of fear for something that Naruto couldn't yet grasp.

He decided that it was about the right time to launch into action, after witnessing that Sasuke didn't actually fare well with the--wait, that's not a Grass symbol! It's a Sound one! So this guy's from Sound village, with that bandage-head .Wonder what they're up to now.Naruto swallowed down his curiosity as he sensed that Sasuke definitely in need of help, the pretty face contorted in fury and, was that fear? Naruto almost chortle out in amusement. The high-and-mighty Sasuke-sama was actually afraid? The amusement died down and was replaced by sheer resentment.That Sound guy must be one hell of a fighter,Naruto darkly mused. He slipped out several kunai and prepared to perform his favourite hand seal for the Kage Bunshin.

Both shinobi that was engaged in the fight was completely taken by surprise when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by so many audiences, with exactly the same smirking face and sparkling blue eyes. Naruto. The Sound nin hissed in anger, as he was so close in 'taming' the Uchiha survivor and reaching the goal as why he was there in the first place. Sasuke unconsciously grunted and one couldn't possibly tell if he was relieved or further aggravated by the way Naruto choose to make an entrance. Really, such cliché! Sakura gasped, her eyes wildly searched around for the real Naruto, as she was quite sure that the blonde genin would burst out of nowhere and started insulting snake e to think of it, he might insult Sasuke-kun too.

"Yo," one Naruto stepped out from the others, sneering at the Sound nin. "Changed your village already? That's kinda convenient for dirty work, isn't it?"

"You're late, dobe," Sasuke, having picked up his formal cold attitude, hastily tried to insert a better image of himself. "What took you so long?"

The snake man narrowed his slitted eyes and answered for Naruto. "You can't defeat any of my snakes."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I plan to do and then I'll turn you into bbq snake meat," the blonde retorted in quite an annoyingly (to both snake guy and Sasuke) cool manner. He turned his attention to a certain raven-haired team mate of his and grinned widely. "Need my help...little girl?"

Uchiha Sasuke winced visibly at that particular phrase.

Out of the blue, Sakura's voice rang from behind him. "That's Orochimaru, Naruto, one of the legendary Sannins! We can't possibly defeat him!"

"Orochimaru?" Naruto's eyebrows rose as he regarded the hissing nin before him. Then, without much consent, he said, "That crazy, power hungry, mentally deficient sannin? You're **_the_** Orochimaru?"

The incredulous tone portrayed in Naruto's voice alone was enough to make the missing nin hissed louder, and Naruto took it as a rather funny imitation of a snake . Orochimaru snarled at the blonde genin, eyes burning in cold fury, a

"Yes, I am the one and only Orochimaru, brat. You'd better not stand in my way or--"

"Oh please, not that old threat," the blonde snorted in a truly exasperated way. When he locked his eyes at Orochimaru, Sasuke (and perhaps Sakura too) could see the iron-wrought determination flashed in those sapphire orbs. "Lets not waste any time, Orochimaru-sama. It's not everyday that I can fight a Sannin." The emphasis on that title was laced with evident sarcasm.

Though in truth, Naruto had no confidence whatsoever in fighting the Sannin. he'd read about the sannin and he knew all the psychotic things he did.

Orochimaru threw back his head and laughed, sharp and cynical. He sneered lazily at Naruto and then, at a thoroughly annoyed Sasuke. "It seems that our match will have to be delayed, Sasuke-kun. You have an agonizingly -- obstinate -- brat as a team mate. It shan't take long, though."

Sasuke, unwilling as he might have been, was quite enraged when Orochimaru fixed his attention on Naruto and the bunshins but he knew that he was running low in chakra supply. It would only be like fighting a losing battle and he ain't going to lose just yet. He placed no hope, no hope at all at Naruto and that made the Uchiha even more furious.That dobe better buy me some time to think through a plan. If not, this is all going to go down the drain.Furthermore, that hole on his thigh was really starting to sting! Trying to hide the limp caused by that self-inflicted injury, Sasuke made his way to the edge of that clearing, consciously eyeing the two nin in front of him that had done nothing, yet. The bunshins were moving restlessly in the background, waiting for a signal.

Orochimaru was the first to attack, swiping a trail of blood at some weird tattoo ornamenting his wrist after biting that particular thumb. Naruto noticed at once that the snake nin was about to do another summoning and his trail of thought died immediately when a yell rang through the forest. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke and voila! Two huge snakes coiling and twisting before him.

Naruto groaned inwardly. God. I. Hate. Snakes.

Orochimaru displayed an elegant way of jumping onto the head of a snake, that dreadful smirk of his widening at the bemused look on the blonde's face. Naruto cursed violently under his breath as he glared up at the snake sennin, swearing at just about everything. The blonde genin moved several steps back, joining in the mass of his bunshins as his mind tried furiously to think about a plan.

What I need is time and maybe an area destruction type of jutsu.

He went through the list jutsus that he had learnt but Naruto couldn't make up his mind on any of them. The reason; He lacked chakra and variety,also,this is freaking Orochimaru!!

"What's wrong, brat?" Orochimaru sneered from his position, noticing the painstakingly obvious annoyance on Naruto's face. "Fox got your tongue?"

What the hell--! Okay, that's it! Snake-bastard's going down!Naruto narrowed his eyes and performed the hand seal for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu again, creating double the amount of the earlier bunshins. When he had finished, he smirked up at the Sound nin.

"Shut up you panini head!! At least I'm not so ugly that I have to use other's face to cover mine, like you did."

The exchanges of insults stopped there as one of the snakes lunged forward, diamond-shaped eyes focused on the 'Naruto's' surrounding them. The bunshins were no match at all against the summoned snake as the reptile easily rampaged through them, lashing out its tail in the rapid approach. Orochimaru stood still on another snake, watching in mild satisfaction at the destruction caused by the snake, as the real Naruto had not yet been found. The bunshins were scattered around, fighting and hurling kunai in vain before disappearing into puffs of smoke by a lash of tail from the snake. Orochimaru glanced at where Sasuke and Sakura were supposed to be hiding, gleefully licking his bottom lip.

This is useless,Naruto gritted his teeth as he crouched vigilantly behind a thick shrubbery, watching his clones being lashed to 'death' and Orochimaru leering superiorly from the top of a snake. He had taken refuge there, intending to test his opponent first by using Kage Bunshin and by the look of it; it wouldn't be long until all the bunshin disappeared. I have to do something, but what?! The blonde genin frowned but the storm soon dissipated and a large grin etched itself onto his face.Since when do I use my brain anyway? All this thinking, man, I'm growing old!

With that thought planted firmly inside his head, Naruto leaped out of hiding and landed in front of what was left from his many bunshins. He quickly performed a hand seal and the bunshins 'poof'-ed out of existence. "Right, now it's time to be serious."

Orochimaru snorted at the remark. "You mean you were not serious before? I thought you were wiser than you look but alas, even sannin make mistakes."

"We'll see about that," the blonde retorted, warily eyeing the snake before him. He brought out a kunai and fell into a fighting stance. "We'll see what you have to say when your precious snakes die one by one."

"My snakes versus your kunai and you," the sannin laughed derisively, his long hair ruffled by the sudden movement. "Struggle as you like, boy, you'll never win."

Ignoring the insult, Naruto concentrated hard on doing a foreign hand sign, with just one hand. Sasuke and Sakura, who were watching from aside, looked at each other in confusion. The only person they had ever seen that had done hand seals using a hand were Haku, and that was because of his Bloodline Limit! The Uchiha survivor tried to activate his Sharingan, in hope that he'll be able to copy the hand seals but before he could do so, Naruto was done. The blonde was grinning from one ear to another, looking down at the hand he held a kunai with. Sasuke followed the gesture, and was completely taken aback by what he saw. Naruto's hand was enveloped by chakra, plainly visible to naked eyes! And the chakra was encircling the kunai in rapid succession.

That's, that's impossible,the raven-haired genin's eyes widened.It's like Kakashi-sensei's Chidori but slightly different. Naruto couldn't have known how to do that!

Sakura opted to speak out her thought, emerald orbs clouded with uncertainty. "What's Naruto doing? There's no jutsu like that enlisted in any scrolls in the library."

Her question was left unanswered as their attention went back to the blonde genin, who had seemed satisfied by the result of the seals. The kunai in his hand was covered by flame-like chakra, distinctly glowing blue under the glare of evening sun.

It's not secret that Naruto was not a fire style user but he did know about ( since two weeks before the chuunin exam) sealing jutsu, and there were a bunch sealing jutsu that could be used to summon fire,only problem right now is that Naruto had never used one before now,the chances of it working were slim to none.

Orochimaru too was looking quite perplexed by the action from the fox boy before him but dismissed it as some sort of fancy simple jutsu that had been created by some brainless shinobi. Surely, that kunai could do nothing than scratch his summoned snake and enrage it further, something that the Sound nin wanted Naruto to do. The sannin nevertheless observed Naruto closely, as he was curious of the purpose of that one-handed seals.It didn't seem to serve any useful intentions.

Shrugging off his curiosity, Orochimaru ordered the snake to attack Naruto as he commanded the one he was on to stay still. The sannin was terribly in need of entertainment and to him; Naruto was the one that could provide the entertainment that he needed.Apart from dear Sasuke-kun, that is. Orochimaru smirked, certain of his victory against the genin. "It won't be long now, Sasuke-kun."

It was the same routine again for Naruto, evading and leaping from tree to tree though he had something purely different in mind. The snake was more agile and faster but Naruto knew that the fight wouldn't last long. His fingers curled even tighter around the kunai, pushing more and more chakra into the core of that inanimate object.The more chakra I can gather, the easier this will be.The grin on his face widened as he dodged yet another lunge from the snake. Naruto chanced a glance at the Sound nin and he chuckled lightly when he saw that Orochimaru was looking somewhat impatient. His lord snakeyness thought that his precious snake could kill the weak, little genin. Well, lord snakey thought wrong then! Time to put the plan on action!

Naruto did a back flip, gathered some chakra to his feet and propelled himself from a nearby tree straight towards the furious reptile, like a blonde-and-black missile. The snake hissed loudly and retaliated by lunging forward, displaying a pair of sharp fangs. Sakura thought that they were going to crash in mid-air, or worse, Naruto would be completely swallowed by the snake but to her utter surprise, the blonde genin managed to avoid the incoming collision at just the exact moment and moved closer within the snake's guard. Orochimaru sensed that the genin had something up his sleeves and it had something to do with that kunai in his hand. The sannin hissed in apprehension, but his eyes never did leave Naruto's figure.

Closing in on the snake, Naruto raised his hand high and with all his strength, he forcefully drove the glowing kunai through the thick scales of the reptile. Done with that particular part, the blonde genin immediately retreated and grinned from the sideway as the snake halted, staring at the imbedded kunai. It didn't feel much pain, as Naruto knew that an ordinary kunai would only feel like a puncture from a needle to the snake. But, that wasifthe kunai was an ordinary one, and in this case, the kunai acted as something quite different. The snake had resumed its predatory instinct after the momentary distraction and had begun advancing towards the still-grinning genin. Naruto, to everyone's surprise, didn't budge from his current position.

Sakura thought,What's he doing?! He'll get killed!

Inner Sakura thought,Move your ass out of there, baka!

Sasuke thought,That dobe must have been setting up something Show me, Naruto; show me what you've got.

And Orochimaru thought,Brat got something planned. Never mind, his effort will be useless once he fights me.

Oblivious to whatever the other's thought about him, Naruto's fingers began moving to and fro into yet another series of hand seals. The snake was coming closer, and Sakura had the faintest feeling that Naruto had paused for a split second, before continuing to another different set of seals. The second one caught Sasuke's attention as he missed the first set of hand seals; it was the seals for Kawarimi no Jutsu. The raven-haired genin narrowed his Sharingan-ed eyes, trying to decipher what Naruto actually had in mind. The snake, which knew and cared nothing about hand seals, was inches away from the blonde and Sakura gasped in horror when it fully-swallowed Naruto.

But of course, both Sasuke and Orochimaru knew better.

Kawarimi!

Naruto reappeared a few feet behind the enraged snake, finishing his first set of hand seals and yelled, "Ignite! Flame seal!"

Nothing seemed to happen for the next second and Orochimaru was beginning on a cynical laugh when suddenly, tentacles of blue flames shot outward from the kunai that Naruto had driven into the snake and wrapped themselves around the glistening body of the snake. Sasuke and Sakura were shocked beyond words as they stared at the reptile, writhing in pain with the raging flames totally engulfed its huge body. Orochimaru was severely taken aback, the slitted eyes widening at the display of an unknown jutsu before him. The Sound nin hissed venomously and snapped his head towards Naruto, who was grinning mockingly towards him. As the snake turned into nothing but a pile of ashes, the blue flames slowly subsided and eventually disappeared.

Naruto raised an eyebrow towards the sannin. "How's that for a genin? One down and two more to go."

"You've surprised me, brat," Orochimaru spat out rancorously. The remaining snake under his command shifted slightly, as if infuriated by the loss of its 'friend'. "But now, you have to fight me."

"Ooh, I'm sooo scared," the blonde retorted, scrunching up his face into an almost successful imitation of someone who was morbidly terrified. "Just attack, will you, I'm tired of talking already!"

Provoked by the negligence displayed by Naruto, the snake and its master lunged towards Naruto, who hastily sidestepped the attack. The blonde drew out another kunai and was prepared to make the same hand seals again for his jutsu when the snake did a turn and rammed straight onto him. With a sickening crack, Naruto was sent flying into the rows of trees. Sasuke and Sakura gasped at the same time but Inner Sakura was too worried about the blonde genin to notice that. Sakura stood up and cautiously eyed the broken trees, trying to find anything that indicated that Naruto had survived the collision but Sasuke jerked her down again, pressing a finger against his pale lips. The two remained in a silent mode, watching Orochimaru and the snake in weary vigilance.

Naruto winced; gingerly trying to stand up but found at once that one or more of his ribs must be broken. A sharp wave of pain washed over him when he tried to move and Naruto found himself quite glad to flop back onto the clutter of bits of wood. It was very uncomfortable and irritating at the same time, laying there with the knowledge that one snake bastard must be laughing at him at that time. He closed his eyes, trying to ease down the pain and fervently praying that Orochimaru somehow had an insanity fit and didn't go looking for him. But that was almost as impossible as Kakashi turning up on time. The blonde supported his weight with a hand and placed another one to his side, brushing his fingers lightly against the bruised spot.

His lips slowly curved into a smile.It's healing--

It must be because of the fox but why was he suddenly helping?

The blonde snorted in disdain and said, sarcastically,

I hate snakes,

Okay naruto, he spoke to himself , Let's kick some snake butts!

Sakura was starting to get very worried when she could see no trace of Naruto. The kunoichi kneeled down and efficiently tended to Sasuke's wounds to take her mind off the horrible predictions she had over Naruto's fate, wrapping the boy's leg with a roll of bandages that she had brought along. Sakura was, after all, a very thoughtful kunoichi. She glanced at Sasuke, but the raven-haired genin was still looking at Orochimaru and the snake and therefore, was quite oblivious to Sakura's inquiring gaze. His eyes hardened when the Sound nin suddenly let out a peal of laughter. Upon finishing with the wounds, Sakura shifted slightly and sat besides Sasuke. Very carefully, she tried to venture on a question but was soon disrupted by a blast from the battlefield.

Naruto stood before the Orochimaru and the snake, a feral grin etched onto his tanned face. "Miss me, snake man?"

The sannin regarded Naruto with sheer amusement. "You're a stubborn fool, brat. You should've run while you still had the chance. But now, it's too late."

"I've never thought of running," the blonde retorted, his hands moving into a series of familiar hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

He needed to finish this quickly ,he was beaten and battered from his fight with Neji,he didn't know how long his chakra would last.

In an instant, hundreds of Narutos flooded the place, encircling the real Naruto and Orochimaru, his summoned snake hissing loudly towards the sudden appearances. The Sound nin smirked and laughed that typical bad-guy laugh of his. "Bunshins, again? It seems like you've run out of option, brat."

Naruto smiled, despite the tense atmosphere that was looming darkly over them. His fingers were still entwined together, as if in poise for another jutsu. "These bunshins are not going to fight, they're to preventyoufrom escaping."

That wiped out the smirk off Orochimaru's face and the sannin narrowed his eyes towards the small figure on the ground. "Impudent remark from an inexperienced genin. You'll not live to regret this,brat!"

The snake began attacking again and Naruto was instantly on constant alert, dividing his attention between the assailants , he knew that he didn't have much chance in winning this battle and reluctant as he was, Naruto foretold that Naruto would have to use every available jutsu he had in order to gain an upper hand. The only trouble was to decide on what jutsu to use. He could use the flame seal again but figured that Orochimaru would be wise enough to evade this particular jutsu by then. Besides, the jutsu was both time and chakra consuming.

I'll have to Eliminate the snake first, and then, its master. My best option will be that I use another fire type sealing jutsu, as it is the easiest way to deal damage.

Naruto leaped to a safer distance, his fingers busily weaving into a set of hand seals. Landing in front of a mass of his bunshins, the blonde was forced to retreat further when the snake came lunging towards him again. Finishing the hand seals in time, Naruto somersaulted and NINJA bombs at the assailant.

The sannin smirked and jumped away from his summoned snake, paying no attention at all to the terrible hiss of pain when the fire bombs crashed headlong with the reptile. Orochimaru darted straight towards Naruto, who had just landed and was in a fighting stance, waiting for the snake sennin in an almost invisible anxiety. Naruto blocked a spinning kick that was aimed for his head, involuntarily staggering under the heavy force. The genin backed away in an instant, cursing loudly as Orochimaru came charging again. Before long, both was locked in an uneven battle of taijutsu; uneven being that the sannin was far more experienced and stronger, therefore succeeding in landing more than a few heavy blows on Naruto.

Dammit! If this goes on, I'll be beaten to a bloody pulp!

(You have to be faster!)Kyuubi's voice boomed again, sounding slightly irritated and frustrated. (And didn't you see that he's practically aiming for your joints? Block those attacks!)

Stop yelling, will you?! I don't need your advice demon!! Naruto dodged a lashed foot, only for a fist to connect painfully with his right side. He's a fucking sannin for crying out loud!

Kyuubi growled in response. (Create some distance and then, I will help you.)

Help me?That brief distraction earned him a hard punch to his stomach and Naruto skidded to the other side of the clearing. He harshly wiped away the trail of blood from the corner of his mouth and frowned. Orochimaru was smirking in an annoyingly smug relish. The blonde groaned and flipped back his thoughts to the fox demon.How? How can you help me? Yapping like a mad fox does not count as helping, you know.

(I will advise you to keep your language in check, child,)the tone of resentment was far too obvious to be ignored. Naruto murmured out his reluctant apology. (Use my chakra; use my power, if you must.)

Naruto swallowed, hard. Are-- are you crazy,I know what that stuff can do me,your using me!!

The fox merely laughed at the retort. (You're not afraid, I gather? Furthermore, you must not lose, as if you die, I will vanish along.)

I know you're a conceited fox to the root,the blonde genin acidly replied, eyeing the Sound nin that was starting to advance towards him.Just don't make me lose absolute control over myself; I don't want that to ever happen again.

(That is entirely up to you.)

Orochimaru was thoroughly enjoying his little fight with the blonde genin, but the Sannin knew that he shouldn't waste any more time than he had already did. He had wanted to finish the fight quickly, put that curse seal on dear Sasuke-kun and let his Sound henchmen (and henchgirl) take care of the rest. Thus, the sannin had lunched forward with every intention to finish off this stubborn brat that had caused too much dents to his ego. His snake-like eyes slitted over and he was almost halfway towards Naruto when something -- unnatural -- began to happen to the brat. It was the air of ancient evil that stirred maliciously around Naruto that actually made Orochimaru halted in the first place, before something else caught the sannin's attention.

The atmosphere was thick with intense an swirling of chakra, flaring up from none other than the blonde genin. Naruto was half kneeling, his eyes closed and a slightly pained expression painted onto his face. He staggered slowly up, opening his eyes. They were blazing crimson with interval flashes of gold, and at that particular moment, Orochimaru realized that the blonde's chakra had also turned from the usual blue to a lighter shade of crimson. The snake sannin stirred uneasily, confused by the sudden changes happening around Naruto. Then, the answer came waltzing into his head.That's the chakra of Ninetails! Ninetails must've slipped from under the seal but by the look of it, he hasn't quite succeed yet.

"Snakey," Naruto's voice was hoarse and those crimson eyes glared straight at the stunned Orochimaru. "Now, the real fight begins."

Naruto blurred out of existence and appeared behind the snake sennin, claw-like fingers lashing out for victim but Orochimaru had already anticipated the move. The blonde's attack met with nothing but a log of wood. Glancing wildly around, Naruto suddenly attacked a nearby tree, to which Orochimaru separated himself from the destroyed bark. Both exchanged blows and kicks for several minutes; Naruto had swiftly gained the upper hand, due to his increase of speed and agility. The corner of the blonde's mouth curved up into a malicious grin, his eyes narrowing in wild pleasure at the intensity of the fight. A trace of panic could be seen surfacing from the sennin's face. It seemed like the sennin was, for once, in the defending position.

Twisted a he was, Orochimaru did deserve the title 'sannin'.

Thus, he had already devised a plan to stop the rampaging demon vessel.

Orochimaru evaded a punch and jumped back, his hands moving into a set of hand seals. As he had guessed before, Naruto followed him closely behind. The sennin abruptly stopped and ducking a kick, he slammed his right hand against Naruto's unguarded belly, exactly where the seal for Kyuubi was. "Five Part Seal!"

Stunned by the sudden move, Naruto could do nothing but snarl at the smirking Sound nin, as he slowly started to lose consciousness. There were voices resounding inside his head; Kyuubi's voice and-- was that Sakura? Staring at the pink-haired kunoichi from under his heavy lids, the blonde tried to tell her to take Sasuke and run but his arms were oddly numb, so were the other parts of his body. The Fourth's seal was burning painfully after that second seal from Orochimaru, the pain succeeding in making Naruto conscious for the next few seconds, though that didn't do much help. The smirking face of that snake sannin was the last thing Naruto saw before he completely fell prey to unconscious vulnerability, blanketing him with the familiar cold darkness.

Sasuke was beyond shocked.That dobe--did he just--that stupid dobe just turned into a demon!The raven-haired genin closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, restoring his self-composure as not to cloud his judgment.No, no! He didn't turn into Ninetails. It's just a bit of the demon's power. But, such power-- I could've killed Itachi if - I - had that kind of power!His fingers curled into fists at that very thought and Sasuke grimly watched Naruto staggered and landed heavily onto the ground, Orochimaru towering over the limp figure. He could sense Sakura fidgeting besides him but Sasuke didn't dare to make any move. Not yet. Clutching his bandaged thigh, Sasuke contemplated darkly if they could escape without actually being caught by that Sound nin.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura hesitated, her eyes still fixed on the unconscious Naruto. "What should we do now?"

"Escape."

Emerald orbs widened in surprise. "But how? And what about Naruto?"

"Grab him in the way and go to the tower," Sasuke whispered carefully. "We have to inform them that Orochimaru is here."

"No such luck, Sasuke-kun."

That voice did not belong to Sakura. Both genins instinctively leaped away from their hiding spot, startled by the sudden appearance by Orochimaru over their carelessness. Sakura was positively trembling in fear while Sasuke had managed to look reasonably determined. The sannin eyed the pair with the air of a snake eyeing its dinner. Sakura had drawn out several kunai, holding them firmly, though her hands were considerably shaking. Her eyes kept darting from Naruto to Sasuke, before landing on Orochimaru. The raven-haired genin narrowed his eyes, trying to guess what the sennin was about to do next but he never did go far with guessing on other people's mind. Sasuke was too used to ignoring them.

"Now that the brat is out of the way, shall we continue, Sasuke-kun?"

after that encounter_

Sakura knew that something had gone wrong with Naruto and Sasuke,from the weird way Orochimaru shoved his hand in Naruto's stomach to the strange doom hickey now on Sasuke-kun's collar.

She couldn't really explain why , but there was this dread, or whatever it was, that made her unnecessarily worried. She tilted her head upward, staring at the giant canopies hanging gloomily above them and desperately tried to soothe down the pounding of her heart against her ribcage. Failing miserably, Sakura turned her attention to her two teammates, who were lying unconscious beneath some giant roots of a giant tree, the pink haired girl was angry with herself ,Anko had taught her how to fight! The had only started training a few weeks before the chuunin exam but surely,she knew enough that she could have at least helped.

Maybe she couldn't beat Orochimaru but she could've definitely helped Naruto and Sasuke. She could've done something! Anything!

Instead she chickened out and cried again.

Suddenly three ninja jumped out of the bushes,Sakura wasted no time in activating the trap she had set,but the guy with the bandaged face,destroyed it with a jutsu she was not familiar with.

"What do you want," she asked noticing the sound symbol on their headbands.

" wake Sasuke up we want to fight him, "

"I won't do that! "

The bandaged head guy sneered and charged at her but before he could hit her he was sent back by Rock Lee's devastating roundhouse kick.

The guy growled, "who the hell are you?!"

" I am the great blue beast of the leaf village,Rock Lee! "

"Lee! Why are you here?"

" I promised that I would protect you with my life remember, "

She was shocked,she had forgotten about that,what's worst someone like her didn't deserve protecting.

"Thank you Lee," She looked around and spotted the only other female , I can definitely take her! Sakura thought, and whatever strength I have left I'll help Lee with those other two guys!

Sakura walked to Kin, "Your opponent is me."

Kin laughed, "oh really Beauty queen,I won't even need jutsu for you, "

The pinkette smirked, she was expecting to be underestimated,she needed to be underestimated right now.

Sakura and Kin rushed at each other engaging in Taijutsu. Sakura sent a right punch that Kin blocked with her left arm. Kin then sent a right kick at Sakura's left leg.

Sakura jumped over the kick and sent a left kick at Kin's midsection while in midair. The kick connected and sent Kin back a few steps. The sound ninja then rushed back at Sakura and sent a flurry of punches at her. Sakura kept blocking and dodging. However Kin saw an opening after she sent a left punch during the flurry. She sent a right uppercut to Sakura's jaw and it connected. She then spun and sent a back kick at Sakura with her left leg to Sakura's stomach. The force of the kick sent Sakura back a few steps and brought her to her knees. Kin walked over to the downed Sakura arrogantly ready to deliver the final blow. But she didn't count on one thing. The old shinobi method of lies and deceit. Sakura acted as though she was weakened enough to be killed and Kin took the bait.

Sakura had tripped Kin as she came close. Kin fell on to her back and Sakura stood up and planted her foot into Kin's chest with a stomp. Kin felt the hit and coughed up a little blood. She then grabbed Sakura's foot and pushed her off. Kin then stood up and jumped back a few feet from Sakura.

"You're not half bad Bubblegum but I'm about to get serious." Kin told her with an arrogant smirk on her face.

"Tch bring it you banshee" Sakura told the sound genin

Kin got pissed at that remark and went into a charge at the pink haired kunoichi. Kin sent a strong right punch at Sakura's face who ducked. As Sakura ducked Kin sent a left kick to her ribs sending her flying to the side. Sakura fell on her back after flying a few feet. Kin then broke into a sprint and leaped into the air. Kin then brought her knees down as she fell on Sakura. Kin's knees connected hitting Sakura's chest. Kin then stood up and kicked Sakura in the ribs making her roll on her stomach. Kin then repeatedly stomped on Sakura's spine until she gripped Sakura by her hair with her left hand and pulled out a kunai with her right ready to slit Sakura's throat.

Wincing just a little Sakura pulled out a kunai from her pouch and cut off her hair giving it a shortened look. Sakura then sprung to her feet while Kin was trying to regain her bearings. Sakura then did a strong right punch to Kin's face. Kin was sent onto her back from the punch. Sakura then walked started walking away from Kin but then turned around after hearing the sound of metal being gripped. Sakura turned around and saw Kin wielding a kunai. Anger welled up within her,she wanted this fight to be over already.

The dodges the kunai and grabbed Kin by the hair before jamming her knee into the sound nins nose.

Kin fell to the floor,unconscious.

That is all I have for you today. Leave me a review.

Thanks for reading.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Can't we just talk this through?

-Ino

\--with team eight--

Hinata Hyuuga was definitely annoyed,she couldn't believe she of all people had to do this , .

The chance of Kiba's stupid plan working was slim to none and if they got caught ,they would all definitely die.

She was tasked with seducing a random team of sand ninjas that Kiba seemed stupid enough,because only idiots can recognize other idiots.

Hinata shyly walked up to the team, a boy with black hair and black eyes noticed her first.

He grinned mischievously at her and she internally cringed.

"What are you doing here cutie?"

He caught the attention of his teammates whose looks were to plain to describe.

The girl of the team sneered at her and Hinata out on her best any face before speaking.

"U-um, I-I...I saw you! During the first phase of the Chuunin exam and I just want you to know that I admire you greatly,"

The other boy of the team seemed less than impressed but the black haired boy was estatic.

"You can't be falling for this she's obviously lying!"

" she's right Tadashi,don't be stupid, "

"Shut up,she could be telling the truth!" He turned to Hinata, " what is it exactly that you like about me? " he grinned.

Hinata pretended to be nervous and shy, "well,I...think you're hot and smart, I can't get over how handsome you are and your smirk and grins..." She trailed off and blushed bright red , "I'm so in love with you I can't stand it!!" She faked.

Tadashi's face went bright red and he smirked.

"Yes!! Told you someone could love me!!" he boasted to his teammates.

"Um," Hinata spoke up, "will you please accepts these!!" She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped her face was red enough as she held out a bouquet of purple flowers to Tadashi.

He was about to grab it when the female of the group stopped him and glared at Hinata.

"If you want him to accept it,give us your scroll,"

Hinata hurriedly took it out of her pocket, "of course anything!"

The girl took the scroll and Tadashi snatched the flowers happily.

"I can't wait to tell everyone back home I have girlfriend!!" The boy jumped up and down cheerfully.

Hinata grimaced and made distance between herself and the Sand Genin, she joined Kiba and Shino behind a shrub .

"Nice going Hinata!" Kiba complimented her but stayed silent, her ego to bruised to talk.

Boom!!

The Loud sound told team right that they had accomplished their goal. They came out from the Bush to see the Sand Genin lying unconscious on the floor covered in soot and slightly twitching.

"I'm surprised that it worked,exactly like you said,where'd you get the idea to put bombs in a flower bouquet?"

Hinata finally spoke up.

"Of course it worked," said shino, "why? Because only an idiot can defeat another idiot,"

" I am not an idiot!! And the idea was Ino's first I saw her try it on Naruto once during training, "He explained.

The Genin took their scroll back as well as the scroll of the Sand ninjas .

" we should get to the tower now, "

"Wait!" Kiba spoke, " there's something I have to check first, "

with Ino_

Ino knew that something had gone wrong with Naruto.

She couldn't really explain why but there was this dread, or whatever it was, that made her unnecessarily worried. She tilted her head upward, staring at the giant canopies hanging gloomily above them and desperately tried to soothe down the pounding of her heart against her ribcage. Failing miserably, Ino turned her attention to her two teammates, who were crouching beneath some giant roots of a giant tree, whispering among themselves. Team Ten was moving kinda slow at that time, thanks to the Konoha's resident lazy genius and his moves to avoid unwanted fight with teams that could turn out to be stronger than them. Ino snorted.Yeah right, Shikamaru and his excuses. He's just too lazy to fight!

"Oy, Shika!" Ino stomped towards the two still-inconspicuous boys, vaguely noticing the existence of a throbbing vein on her forehead. "How are we suppose to get any Heaven scroll if we don't fight with anyone?"

The pony-tailed genin frowned darkly. "We'll wait."

"We've been waiting enough!" eyes blazing indignantly (to which both Shika and Chouji took a step back), the blonde kunoichi berated on her teammates. "Can't we just hunt down other groups now? I'm sick of hiding everytime--" Ino paused and strained her ears, as if trying to hear some sound or noises that the wind had picked up. She turned to Shikamaru. "Did you hear that?"

A double 'No' from the boys.

"Well, listen harder!"

Slightly intimidated by the maniac fire burning in Ino's eyes, Shikamaru and Chouji grudgingly followed the order. Shikamaru's annoyed face scrunched up in uncertainty while Chouji's small eyes glazed over at particularly nothing. Aside from intervals creaking and some highly suspicious insect sounds, the boys couldn't really hear what Ino was trying to point out to them. The blonde kunoichi placed her hands firmly on her hips, glaring in all the patience she could muster at her teammates.

turning Her sharp eyes caught sight of sharp eyes caught sight of something that made her gasp.

It was the back of a girl's head but Ino would know that hair anywhere.

"Illia-San! Is that you!" Ino called.

The redhead stopped in place and it was then that Ino noticed three other people standing beside Illia,they all seemed to be older than the girl and weirdly shaped.

Is that her team? Ino wondered.

"Sorry Blondie I don't know who you're talking about,"

Tayuya lied hoping Ino would just leave it at that.

The blonde laughed, "come on Illia-San,I know it's you,if not how would you know I was blonde?"

Tayuya remembered that Ino had never seen her without her mask and decided to turn around,hoping to convince the blonde that she was not Illia.

When Ino saw her face she gasped as if recognizing her .

Staring had become their only form of communication. It was a contest of sorts and winning came at a price. Ino wouldn't look at Tayuya so much as through her, like her head was transparent and she was fascinated by an object two inches behind her skull. her eyes that Tayuya once fell into as a kind of salvation instead turned her stomach every bit as badly as meeting a stranger after dark.

Tayuya cursed under her breath and Sakon growled at her, " don't tell me you've grown attached to that bimbo! "

"Don't be fucking stupid!"

" well Kill Her and then catch up with us! "

Sakon ordered and rushed off with the rest of the sound four.

Ino turned to Chouji and Shikamaru , "get out of here,"

She couldn't believe Illia was Tayuya all this time!! She had so much questions and so much to say.

Shikamaru looked at Ino confused, "we're not leaving without you!"

" he's right we can't just leave you,! "

"You have to leave I can handle her,"

" oh I'm sorry,!! " Shikamaru yelled, "did you not here her get orders to kill you!?"

" I can handle it, between me and her I'm the one with the advantage, " she said calmly.

"Don't be ridiculous Ino,you can't possibly think you can beat her!?"

" Chouji's right Ino we need t—! " he was cut off by Ino slamming her fist into his stomach,his eyes bulged out of there sockets before rolling into his head.

She handed the unconscious Nara to Chouji.

"Leave! I'll catch up to you!!"

Chouji nodded and was off.

Ino turned to Tayuya, "listen to me Tayuya,I have to tell you something,"

" sorry princess,if I listen things will only be harder,I'm sorry it had to be like this, " Tayuya didn't realize that Ino was not supposed to know her real name.

"Don't you see that it doesn't have to end like this! Just listen to me!"

Tayuya charged at Ino who dodged it making distance between them.

"Fine then! I'll make you listen!"

Ino launched off a tree branch, flying at Tayuya feet-first through the air. The sound nin shifted out of the way of her body, but threw her arm up to block the tree branch coming behind her. The instant her feet touched the ground, the blonde girl shot forward, swinging her tree branch low, knocking Tayuya off her feet. Tayuya caught herself on her hands, throwing herself in a circle on the ground and sweeping Ino's feet out from under her.

"I know you feel it too, Tayuya, you know what I have to say is important" Ino yelled to her. she growled in acknowledgment.

Ino threw herself into the air with her arms as Tayuya rolled away, pulling herself to her feet. Ino leapt at her again, stealing the offensive back as soon as Tayuya had taken it . Tayuya ducked just as Ino's leg tore through the air where her head had just been. Tayuya felt the wind behind her kick, and threw her own arms up in front of her just in time to block Ino's other leg. But when it connected, the sheer force behind it was more than Tayuya had expected, and Ino tossed her into the air. Just as Tayuya realized she was airborne, Ino leapt up after her, locking her legs around Tayuya's head and driving it into the floor.

"I know you want to believe me," Ino whispered to Tayuya. She remained motionless, save for a twitch in her fingers.

"I got a message from the future,we were all destined to meet! We're all friends which is why you aren't fighting seriously! " Ino yelled, squeezing Tayuya's neck between her legs. "You know you can feel it,I'm telling the truth"

Tayuya gripped at the blonde kunoichi's legs and pulled. Good lord, it was like trying to pry open a vice! Who says I'm going easy on you!? …" she growled, deciding on a different tactic.

Ino's hands clenched into fists, "Naruto and Kiba go easy on me all the time,I know when I'm not being taken seriously," she growled, " you haven't even used a jutsu!! "

Tayuya slid further up, pushing herself to her feet with Ino sitting on her shoulders, her legs still locked around Tayuya's neck. she threw herself forward, hoping to catch Ino off-guard, but Ino caught them both with her hands before her head could crash to the ground.

Tayuya's eyes widened.

"Stop pulling my hair!" Ino shouted, flipping the two of them over and grabbing Tayuya's hair as she started to clawed at her legs for breath. " YOU were probably gonna knock me out and tell your team you killed me,but I can't let you go back to them! "

"Fine!! Fine!!" Tayuya yelled tapping Ino's leg, I'll listen to you! "

Ino helped her up.

"Let's get something straight, princess…" Tayuya growled. "Don't ever! Wrap your legs around me like that again!."

"Oh, dear…I'm sorry" Ino whimpered under her breath.

Despite the turn out of the taijutsu match she was well aware that Tayuya was still the stronger female.

"Now tell me about the future," she said massaging her neck.

" Well.. " Ino started, "you should know that it's all my fault,"

" I'm not surprised princess, "

Ino winced at her honesty, "well my future self came to me and told about you,Naruto and Kiba,she said that there's gonna be a huge war,she showed me that Naruto and Kiba died and that the two of us were the only survivors,we didn't even get to change the world like we wanted too!"

" go on, " Tayuya hid her expression of worry but Ino still felt it.

"She basically told me a bunch of random facts about the future,like, look out for this guy named Jiraiya and watch out for Sakura Haruno,Sasuke Uchiha would help cause a war,something bad is gonna happen at the Chuunin exams,make sure to befriend Naruto and Kiba,and she told me to cut my hair and not go on any diets but I'm not listening to that,she also told me that we would meet you Tayuya,under challenging circumstances."

Tayuya gulped and Ino spoke again, "Your the bad thing that's gonna happen to the village aren't you?"

Tayuya nodded, "I'm sorry,"

" it's okay,just tell me what's going to happen, "

"I...I don't have much information but,Its Orochimaru I work for him,he wants the sharingan,which means he's going after Sasuke Uchiha,he wants to destroy your village but I don't know how he plans to do it,he was supposed to brief the rest of the sound four and me when we got to the Sand village,"

" why were you headed to the Sand village,? "

"I don't know,"

Ino pondered before suddenly having an idea.

"Why don't you go back with your team then! Pretend you're on their side and get us info!"

Tayuya rapidly shook her head, "I can't fucking do that!! If Sakon finds out I let you live,he'll tell Orochimaru,!"

Tayuya truly looked terrified , "you know what it would be like for Orochimaru to kill after I spent so long fighting in his dungeons just so I could become useful to him!!...I'm sorry but I'm can't go back unless it's with your head,"

Ino sighed, "it's okay, I have another idea,"

" what ? "

"How about I kill you ?"

" what the fuck!? "

"I bet there are a bunch of sound Genin scattered about this forrest,if I tell them that I killed you they'll report to Orochimaru and he won't expect you to be back,you can come to the leaf village as Illia-San,"

Tayuya knew the plan could work especially the part with pretending to be a leaf chuunin, the leaf village was careless with it's ninja,they wouldn't know the difference.

"Fine, I agree, let's go,"

" Wait, "

"You need a make over,Shikamaru will definitely recognize you without one."

Tayuya winced as she felt Ino run a kunai through her red hair,leaving it resting on her shoulders.

"You should change clothes clothes too," she said digging in her rucksack.

Moments later Tayuya stood wearing Ino's spare clothes which consisted of a sleeveless black crop top. The crop top has rectangular and diamond-shaped cutouts around the neckline. Additionally, she wears a white belt over black fitted pants.

Tayuya glared at Ino in disdain, "I hate you."

It didn't Ino and Tayuya long to find chouji,he left quite the trail, he was crouched behind some shrubbery holding a still unconscious Shikamaru.

"Chouji,what's going on?"

The boy jumped in fright but calmed when he saw Ino.

"See for yourself,"

Ino and Tayuya looked and were both met with a gruesome sight.

Ino had once thought of Sakura as her best friend, when she had helped the pink-haired girl out of her shell of low self-esteem and befriended her. Out came the cool Sasuke and Sakura became foolishly infatuated with the Uchiha, costing them their new-found friendship. Since then, the blonde had looked back to those times and viciously cursed any lingering memories of Sakura as the most fatal flaw in life that she had ever done. Their rivalry was by no means heated up when Sakura was announced as the team mate of Sasuke. Ino often, no,endlessly thought that she hated Sakura. Maybe even arriving at the point of loathing the other girl.

But now, watching a bruised, bloody and beaten Sakura struggling to defend her unconscious team mates from the bandaged-head weirdo and his troublesome teammate (the other one was unconscious), something inside Ino softened towards the pink-haired kunoichi. Naruto often fretted on how they (Sasuke and him) always had to save Sakura here and then, and thus, Ino had an image of a flimsy Sakura imprinted firmly inside her head. Though, she did acknowledged the pinky's brainpower but that was all. Her fingers curled into fists as she eyed the ragged tresses of pink hair and the crimson liquid smearing Sakura's usually smooth skin. Her eyes narrowed as the Sound boy laughed at Sakura as she desperately fought the spiky-headed boy.

Then, her eyes fell on Naruto.

What the hell happened to him?!

"Ta—Illia-San what do we do ?"

She turned to the redhead.

Before Tayuya could reply there was a loud cry from Sakura.

Ino's attention was back to the battle.

Sasuke was standing before Sakura, weird purple tattoos marring his pale skin and purplish chakra swirling eerily around him as his Sharingan eyes glared coldly at the Sound genins, quite unlike half a minute ago when he was lying immobile besides the pink-haired kunoichi. His hands, tattooed with the same odd pattern that covered his whole exposed flesh, was twitching subtly and his lips quirked into a malicious grin as he continued on freaking everyone out with those purple chakra that looked like wispy apparitions. Zaku and Dosu exchanged wary looks, as confused with the situation as the rest of the Leaf genins. Sakura looked like she was about to faint out of horror while Shikamaru and Chouji gaped from the sideline.

Then, with a tone that suggested nothing but pain malevolent, Sasuke demanded, "Who did that to you, Sakura. Who?"

And again, Zaku proved himself to be a complete idiot..

Ino winced Tayuya and Chouji were watching in morbid fascination from aside as Sasuke continued on attack after attack in unnatural speed and strength, practically kicking the living daylight out of Zaku. The spike-headed Sound nin was indeed in a really bad shape, his scream of agony rang throughout the forest when Sasuke twisted his hands to his back, grinning maliciously and added more pressure, until eventually, a bone-chilling crack resounded amongst Zaku's tortured screams. Dosu, his remaining conscious teammate, was staring helplessly at his friend. Ino's eyes widened and she paled, oblivious that Sakura too had copied the same response.

"Ta—Illia-San," Ino hastily turned to her friend, echoing her earlier question. "What's wrong with Sasuke? What's with that weird tattoo?!"

The other kunoichi flinched. "It's… it's Orochimaru's seal."

"Orochimaru?!" Ino gaped in disbelief, her fingers clenched into fists. "What'd he do?"

"In it's first stage,it really just activates his blood list and make him physically stronger, "

"How..how do I stop him!?"

"You have to knock him unconscious,catch him off guard,"

Tayuya explained.

"By the way,those are sound ninja,you should put your plan to use,"

" Right, "

"Hey Uchiha,why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

The Uchiha turned around a little too late see Ino yamanaka's flying kick coming into contact with his nose. There was a sickening crunch and he fell to the floor unconscious.

Sakura stared at her incredulously, "you just kicked Sasuke Uchiha!?"

Ino whimpered, "he's gonna kill me!" She stated at him as though she would cry.

" Please be dead,please be dead! Please be dead! Please be dead! " she cried.

Gathering her bearings,Ino turned towards the remaining sound Ninja.

"Your a sound Ninja, right? You should know that I met one of your ninjas,her name was Tayuya!" Ino smirked .

Dosu was shocked at her words.

"She was a cocky redhead! She completely underestimated me and I killed her, " she spoke maliciously.

Dosu didn't believe what he was hearing,Tayuya wouldn't lose to this girl. Unless...

"The girl didn't take me seriously at all,didn't even use jutsu , I burned her pretty easily though,too bad she didn't have a scroll,"

Dosu sighed, knowing Tayuya she probably looked at the blonde and decided she wasn't worth the chakra,leaving her with the upper hand ,her cockiness had gotten her killed,and Dosu wasn't surprised.

He picked up his two teammates and dashed off with Ino yelling behind him.

"You better run!!"

" Um,Ino,is that true,did you really kill someone? " Sakura asked.

Ino shook her head, "no,it was Illia-San,"

Tayuya along with Chouji came out of hiding.

"She's a Chuunin friend of mine, a bunch of Chuunins are scattered about the forrest,she helped me during my fight but you can't tell anyone because the Chuunin aren't supposed to interfere with the exams,"

" oh, " Sakura answered.

"So that girl from before,you really didn't know her?"

Shikamaru who had just woken up spoke.

"Rigth I didn't, I mixed them up cuz they both have red hair,I'm sorry for punching you,"

Shikamaru said nothing but she knew he hadn't given up.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

It was well past sunset that Team eight found themselves walking up the steps towards the tower in weariness. Words proved to be unnecessarily vain for them at that time, being that they were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to care about conversation.

They had succeeded in avoiding potential battles that could've cost them the scrolls, due to the combined effort of systematic planning, hiding and a bit of luck but They were all clearly irked at Kiba for insisting They go find their other classmates , thus they now had to worry about some weird problem,with a room hickey on Sasuke Uchiha. They were weakened through the battles before and another one would have proved to be much of a torture to their current state.

Kiba was frowning darkly, recalling the last ten hours of his life and everything in it. Orochimaru, the seal, Naruto, and most of all Illi—Tayuya… everything seemed to have grown out of control in just one day. he was told that Naruto couldn't hear Kyuubi anymore, although he had tried several times to reach the fox demon . It was as if Kyuubi had been… locked away .

The brunette suddenly felt… empty. Without his friends to accompany him, he felt oddly vulnerable. And perhaps, lonely.

Naruto and Ino were always there,even if they were sometimes so wrapped up in each other he would get ignored ,they still always remained a constant in his life.

But with what he found out about Illi—Tayuya! Would things still be okay?

Kiba shook his head. They would be okay! They would always be okay,they had to change the world after all.

Kiba gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing.Naruto's probably trying to figure out how to lift Orochimaru's seal. That must be the one that holds Kyuubi back. The question is how? He can't possibly ask that pervert Kakashi; he'll make Naruto tell him the reason behind it. Dammit! It's all comes down to this. After all the hell we've been through…

Sealing and unsealing was not really the prime subject that Naruto had practiced for this exam . There were a few jutsus that involves minor sealing, such as the Flame Seal but those were for the strict use on chakra. Orochimaru's Five Part Seal was different; it directly sealed the entity that it was aimed for. And the Kiba knew Naruto probably had absolutely no idea on how to lift such a complicated seal. He was not prepared for such complication. It had begun as a mere exam, after all.

Kiba stared down at his two hands and clenched the fingers tightly.

Heshould'vebeen stronger…then maybe he could've gotten to Naruto faster and helped him.

Oblivious of where his feet were carrying him, Kiba continued on following his other two teammates like a brewing cloud of thunder, ready to strike at anyone who dared to open a mouth against him. The tower was deserted, he had realized that, and there was an unsettling atmosphere looming heavily above them. Maybe it was from the anxiety combined from the Chuunin hopefuls, maybe it was because so many had been sacrificed in order to live up to the exam's infamous lethality. Kiba didn't know, and he hadn't had the energy left to even feel curious.

He was extremely tired ofeverything.

Upon arriving in front of a pair of doors that was marked with their team's name, the three genins exchanged grim glances before pushing the doors open and stepped inside, drinking in the details of the room that had unfold. It was a moderately furnished room, complete with three single beds facing an open window. There was one side dedicated to a table with chairs, cooking utensils and a gas stove. Another section was turned into a training ground, with several sandbags hanging from the ceiling among other things. The last section was obviously the lavatory.

Hinata sauntered in first towards the beds, literally jumping onto one of them. She had closed her lilac eyes, savouring in the softness of the mattress as she allowed herself to be lulled to a much-deserved sleep by the cool breeze and the faint scent of pine trees. All memories of previous life-threatening battles and weird seduction plans had momentarily evaporated into a feeling of accomplishment. Shino stared at Hinata's still form for several seconds before he too, claimed a bed of his own and left the middle one empty, apparently for Kiba. The brunette was still frowning, his eyes glued to the view of the forest from the window.

Kiba decided that from that day onwards, he hated the Forest of Death.

For further screwing up his already screwed up life.

Dumping the two scrolls on the table, Kiba made his way to a lone refrigerator, rummaging around until he found something that brought a smile onto his gloomy feature. A cup of instant ramen, beef flavour (Naruto would be so proud). He placed the opened cup onto the counter and proceeded on to boil some water, constantly reminding himself to profusely thank whomever was responsible for their room for the treat. The brunette seated himself as he waited for the water to boil, idly flicking off dust from his dark shirt. The shirt was excessively torn, huge slash marks leaving strips of fabric clinging for dear life.

Wonder if they have extra shirt somewhere around here… Wouldn't want to go around half-naked like this, Kiba thought, slightly amused by a fleeting image Hinata's face if she would ever see him walking around the place with only his pants alone on. Despite the negative atmosphere before, he found himself snickering softly.

The shrill screech of a whistling sound snapped him back to reality, his unfocused brown eyes staring absentmindedly at the steam billowing from the kettle. Like countless times before, his system automatically directed him to the ramen cup, poured the boiling water into it and on towards the waiting part. Before long, Kiba was slurping noisily on the ramen as he eyed the forest through one of the opened windows. The rich texture of the noodles pleased his taste buds and his stomach but even that couldn't distract Kiba from the constant negative thoughts that plagued his mind.

Much to his annoyance, he began thinking about Tayuya again.

Kiba was worried about her, in a way that seemed so… alien to him. He wasn't used to thinking about anyone else besides Naruto and Ino.

Ino had woken up Naruto when Kiba found her and Illia-San,she took them away from the rest of the rookie 9 and briefed them on the situation with Tayuya,Naruto took it easy,not even looking annoyed or mad, he just accepted it. Kiba was irritated,if not livid. The person they were supposed to change the world with used to work for Orochimaru,she came to the village with the intent of having it destroyed,his could be accept this!? Eventually he took pity on the redhead girl,she might not have had a great life to end up with Orochimaru, at the moment she was hiding somewhere to make sure no sound no sound ninja spotted her and realized she wasn't dead.

He just couldn't believe her and Illia-San were the same person, Illia wasn't supposed to be part of their future, She was supposed to be one of those slightly memorable people that they got acquainted with through the lanes of their life. And then forget about. She wasn't supposed to mean that much!

Kiba subsequently choked on his ramen and cursed loudly.

What ever the reason was she was someone special to him.

"— and so, the Chuunin Examination was established to help—"

Naruto glowered darkly as Sandaime continued on with his spectacularly boring and uninteresting speech, honestly thinking that the entire unity-peace thing to be a complete and utter crap. He was not interested in any of that political shit especially when it came from someone like the third Hokage,honestly Naruto never expected him to be so power hungry.

Though There was something much more urgent that he wanted to deal with at that time. He glanced to his far left, where Team Ten stood talking to one another. Ino was gesturing something to Chouji, while Shikamaru thoughtfully nodded his head. The kunoichi tilted her head up when she sensed someone looking at her, her eyes meeting those of Naruto's in a brief stare match. There was a flicker ofsomethingin her blue orbs before she smiled warmly and broke their eye contact turning back to speak to Shikamaru, pretending as though she hadn't seen Naruto.

It had been like that since this since they all left The forest of death, all the team's were so busy recovering and training , none The friends had time to interact. Naruto hadn't even seen Tayuya , who said she was laying low because of Kabuto,who apparently was a spy.

Now, the Hokage had conveniently informed them that because there were too many participants left to battle in Third Round, they had to conduct a Preliminary Round to eliminate some weaker sods in order to have sufficient amount of genins inside the last round as there will be guesses from other countries to watch the Third (and last) Round of the Chuunin Exam. They were called to gather inside the building after finishing up explaining the riddle to them, and had to listen to Sandaime's dull speech before they could start the Preliminary Round. All the teachers were there, standing before them silently as the Hokage droned on. There was no mentioning of Orochimaru's attacks inside the old man's long rambles and Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that not many knew about that incident except those that were directly involved inside it. The management was trying to hush it all up. At that thought, the blond snickered darkly.

My opinion of the Hokage had dropping a lot lately,Naruto mused, He ran a hand over his white, sleeveless shirt and lingered on his stomach, growling in deep resentment at his many unsuccessful attempts to lift the Snake Sannin's seal. His fingers hovered above that said spot for a few seconds, before he stuffed his hands inside the pair of black jeans that he wore.

Sasuke was standing in front of him, with Sakura by his side. Naruto's eyes trailed to the Uchiha's pale neck and to the tattoo courtesy of Orochimaru, frowning when he saw Sasuke placing a trembling hand over the throbbing tattoo and at the drops of sweat that dotted Sasuke's forehead. Ino had told him about that .

Team seven was still a team, but Naruto knew that Team Seven was naught but three separate individuals with three separate ideals by that time. He had no problem with that, knowing that the next rounds of the Chuunin Exam did not require them to fight as a team anymore. It actually worked quite well for his advantage, as he didn't have to worry about failing the exam if one of his two teammates screwed up in any possible way.

He had planned to step out from Team Seven and Kakashi's command after the Exam. It wasn't much of an impulsive act anyway; Naruto had started to contemplate doing what he would do even before the start of the Exam. After he had gained the Chuunin title, the blond wouldn't be able to stay with them anymore,he would have start planning on ways to get stronger and stop a war that was definitely coming,. He would need to have a free hand to work his way up to be a Jounin, without having Sasuke getting jealous of every new jutsu he learned and Sakura constantly taking his side. It was Kiba idea first,he said he wanted to separate himself from his clan,make a name for himself without be overshadowed by anyone else with his last name. Naruto shifted his attention to the teachers before them, Kakashi was there, his masked face revealed no expression whatsoever as his half-lidded, visible eye glazed over at the long speech. He had always imagined Iruka would be here at a moment like this,he would cheer loudly for Naruto at the stands and then treat him to ramen,maybe scold him for being reckless.

Naruto clenched his knuckles, I'll win,for Iruka-Sensei!

He would deal his revenge to Orochimaru later.

Naruto unconsciously exhaled in relief when Sandaime finished his speech, retreating silently to Anko's side. A shinobi puffed into existence before them to replace the Hokage, the pale face and dark circles underneath his eyes succeeded in making him look like a sick person more than ever.

"My name is Hayate, and I'll be your referee for today's matches," the nin announced, his eyes watching them carefully under the black bandanna that he wore. "Before we start the random shuffling for opponents, is there any of you that wish to quit the Exam? This is the last time to do so before we start the Preliminary Round."

Naruto snorted.That's a really useless question. I don't think anyone would want to—

"I want to back out."

The blond blinked and sharply turned to the source of that voice. He narrowed his eyes when he caught sight of Ino's raised hand.

Ino commented something about backing down because of the injuries she acquired after the second stage of the Chuunin exam.

"I'll probably get myself killed if I go out there ,I'll try again next time." She smiled, and Shikamaru seemed to think that an okay reason .

"I'll back out too!"

Naruto was shocked when Kiba raised his hand as well,his eyebrow raised,was this planned,they didn't mention it to him.

"I figure I'd try again next year too, my nin dog is pretty tired after all,"

Naruto panicked, was he supposed to back out too?

Ino felt his worry and smiled at him, letting him know to continue.

"Anybody else who wants to quit?" Hayate repeated, coughing lightly as he did so. Sakura shot Sasuke a worried glance but said nothing. After a considerable amount of time, the sickly referee nodded his head and said, "That's that, then. Well, it's just about the perfect number to have. The Preliminary Round is going to consist of one-on-one matches . There will be no rule applied to the matches, and it will continue until one of the opponents died, defeated or surrendered. Besides that, I will stop the match if the winner is already obvious so that unnecessary killings can be avoided. Now, let me introduce something that will determine your fate."

Naruto looked up when a loud, rumbling noise echoed inside the room. A portion of the wall automatically moved to reveal a built-in gigantic monitor, its dark screen flashing under the glare of light. Hayate gestured forward and continued, "This board is going to shuffle your names randomly, so that the fights are not going to be biased. Let's see who are going to fight in the first match."

Names flashed around the screen for several seconds until only two names were fixated on the dark surface. Naruto snickered when he saw who secured the first match.

It was Sasuke versus some Yoroi guy.

Sakura hastily whispered something to Sasuke, who was tightly clutching the tattoo that marred his neck. The Uchiha snapped at her, causing tears to pool inside her green irises as she muttered something to the raven-haired genin. Naruto arched an eyebrow in half-interest and fold his arms against his chest, waiting to see the end of that. He knew that Sakura was worried about Sasuke's condition and that weird tattoo thing, courtesy of Orochimaru but Naruto didn't want to say anything. He was through with feeling sorry for others when they never felt anything except resentment, fear and all negative feelings synonymous to the mentioned two towards him. A few muttered words from Sasuke and Sakura's shoulder slumped in defeat, one hand wiping over the tears that brimmed her eyes as the Uchiha stepped forward to meet his opponent.

Yoroi was one of Kabuto's teammates, supporting a pair of dark glasses and a black cloth covering the lower half of his face. Hayate coughed again and addressed the rest of the waiting genins, "Now we shall start the first match. Everyone else, please wait for your turn on the second floor."

Other teams started clearing out from the arena at the order, reunited with their teachers and chatted away as they went to the balcony overhead them. Kakashi had walked past Sasuke, muttering some advises underhis breath.

Naruto ,Ino and Kiba stood next to each other on the stands, Ino stood in the middle of both boys, her elbow hurting out just slightly to touch both their arms.

They spoke to each other via Ino's telepathy that only works through physical contact.

"What was that,why'd you two quit?"

Naruto spoke first.

"Tayuya said that Kabuto usually backs out of the exams after the second phase,"

Ino explained, "I figure since the Hokage probably already knows we have a spy in the village,he'll likely suspect the ninjas that backed out,Kabuto's smart so he knows this,if so many Genin suddenly drops out the Hokage will definitely have suspects,so by dropping out I forced Kabuto to stay in,"

Naruto was still just a bit confused, "what good did it do?"

" sigh.if he fights we get to see what kind of jutsu and techniques he has,therefore we get to think of ways to beat him in the future baka! "

Kiba and Naruto looked at her astounded.

"My idea was different,I figured if I backed out I could find Tayuya and we could dig for info on Orochimaru and why he went to suna,"

Naruto winced,was he the only one not thinking of plans?

Suddenly they jumped as a hand was placed on their Shoulders, "what are you guys doing?"

They turned and saw a girl,she seemed to be their age,her features plane,black hair, black eyes and her face hard and long.

"Who're you?" Ino flinched.

" it's Ta—Illia-San, " Kiba stated sniffing at her.

"He's right,I transformed to disguise myself,"

She turned to Ino, "nice plan but it won't work,"

Her eyes widened, "how!?"

" Kabuto is smart,he'll probably make himself lose on purpose to avoid showing his skills,I bet he knows someone is on his tail. "

Ino sighed, "it was all for nothing then,"

" Hey look! " Kiba pointed to the arena.

Sasuke stood victorious,clutching his doom hickey and Kakashi teleported down to him,and took him away.

"We can't trust the Uchiha with that seal," Tayuya said.

Naruto growled, "I know."

The names suddenly started turning again.

Naruto gulped and Tayuya placed a hand in his shoulder as he saw his name.

"He won't fight you seriously,which means you should take the chance to incapacitate him,"

" what if he does fight seriously? "

"He won't ,it'll blow his cover of always being a weak genin,I promise your okay urchin head," she patted him.

Well, thought Naruto, Prepare to lose Kabuto.

Done, I don't own Naruto.


	15. Where The Journey EndsChapter Fifteen

I do not own Naruto!

Naruto started by making two clones,he kept them in the sidelines while he attacked Kabuto.

He threw a fist which not surprisingly for Tayuya, Naruto caught and parried with a kick,to the stomach, the silver headed man flew into the wall which cracked on impact,Using surprising speed,Naruto ran toward Kabuto and grabbed him by the neck,before slamming him into the floor and causing large craters to form on the floor . The blonde grunted and sent a left elbow into the sound boy's cheek and then sent an right elbow into the other cheek before letting go a hard punch to his nose,the ground trembled from the force and Naruto had lost his focus causing Kabuto to flip him over,the sound boy constantly pounded against the young boy's face,drawing blood from his nose and opening the skin on his cheeks, Naruto's arms felt both heavy and like if he tried to move them they would snap,his knuckles felt as if the bones were melting,his legs were stiff and immobile and he knew the warm liquid streaming from his nose wasn't snot,Naruto hacked out blood,or at least tried because Kabuto's fist prevented such things,with the slightest twitch of his fingers, Naruto received a painful sting throughout his body.

I thought Tayuya said you'd be easy!? He yelled in his head.

"This is nothing personal,I'm just trying to incapacitate you ,so you don't get in his way"

Kabuto said squeezing Naruto's neck tighter.

'What the hell?' Naruto thought.

At this point Naruto thought his windpipe was crushed.

Clone Naruto quickly ran at the spy and threw a punch but Kabuto was all but ready for it. The floor trembled as Kabuto dodged and the clone fell forward causing it to combust .

The real Naruto got up,slightly revitalized after being able to breathe again.

The first punch had grazed Naruto's chin . He noticed to late that it was a feint, the second punch doubled him over and expelled the last bit of air from his stomach.

It was a heck of a shot. Outside of having the wind knocked out of him,which he always hated, Naruto noticed the fair amount of pain he felt from the gut shot he received from Kabuto earlier.

A hit to the face and then to the kidney sent Naruto to the ground,fortunately he was used to it all. A veteran of being bullied and beaten,even being out of air was something Naruto knew how to deal with. He stood straight,blue eyes bulging with rage,he stared at his opponent - a dirty henchman of Orochimaru- Kabuto tried to stand still but Naruto could see he was tired from previous battles.

"You...Damn..." Naruto took a lurching step forward with every word. On the third he swung; "Bastard!!"

The blow felt a little sluggish but it got the job done, before Kabuto could register the pain, however, another body shot,this one to the ribs, sent fresh ripples of pain throughout his torso, Kabuto was sent back several feet but didn't fall- he made sure he didn't fall - but it was a lot closer than he would've liked. The kid went in for another shot but Kabuto shoved him off. Seeing Naruto scoot back so far against the weight of his shove gave Kabuto a second wind. He covered the distance between them. He threw three heavy punches that DID land. Naruto fell.

Then,he stood again.

It was unreal . Between the pain in his guts,ribs and bones in general,the sight of Naruto on his feet after all this was not something he wanted to see. He threw a haymaker that Naruto ducked but didn't parry,then another that Naruto again,swung under -and responded in turn by sending a hard left hook to Kabuto's cheek and a quick right hook to his other cheek before finishing with an uppercut.

Click! The sound of Kabuto's's upper and lower rows of teeth making unplanned contact sickened him . He felt his feet leave the ground and his neck bent so far back he thought it might break,when he finally fell onto his back,Naruto straddled him and glared at him with burning blue eyes as he held a shaking fist in the air,when Naruto brought it down onto Kabuto's face,the silver headed boy felt the ground beneath his head cave in as his eyes rolled into his head.

Oh well,Orochimaru only told him to scope out Naruto skills,not win.

Naruto,limped up to his friends and fell weakly into Ino's arms, she smiled warmly, "that was pretty great Naruto."

He nodded and turned to Tayuya, "I thought you said he wouldn't be serious?"

" He wasn't, he didn't even use chakra,you were just pathetic. " Tayuya joked at the last part.

\--a few days after--

You heard me!" Naruto yelled at the perverted old man who had rendered his temporary trainer unconscious.

"Give me one good reason why I should train a brat like you!" he countered with equal volume of his own, jumping down off the toad he was seated on.

"Cuz if you don't I'll tell the Onsen lady you were peeping in on the women's bath!" he grinned triumphantly.

"Pft. You think she'll be surprised?" he snorted.

Naruto clenched his fists; This man was smart enough not to be completely goaded into his verbal games. It seemed he would have to up the stakes somewhat.

In all honesty, he had the perfect technique for this, but he had been hoping to test it out on someone other than the perverted frog-man first.

Sasuke, for example, would be a perfect test subject.

Unfortunately, old froggie here had not really left him with much of an option. Silently vowing to exact his revenge on him for dragging the technique out of him later, he took a deep breath of air and grinned maniacally (it was at this point then Jiraiya realised the boy was a sadist in the making).

"SEXY TECHNIQUE!" Naruto bellowed, forcing his chakra into his hand seal and expelling it in a puff of smoke.

As far as Naruto was aware, it was the sight of his imagined, naked, female, sixteen-year-old form that persuaded the man to finally agree to take over his training from the glasses-guy kakashi had temporarily arranged for him, because Kakashi was to busy with Sasuke to be bothered with Naruto.

As soon as he had agreed, Naruto released the technique and reverted to his much less curvy twelve-year-old body. he was glad the technique had worked, but he would need to test it out on Sasuke and Kiba to be sure of its effectiveness. Maybe a few of the other boys from his graduating class too.

"I guess it couldn't hurt, I already have enough ideas for volume three with this..." he mumbled to himself, replacing a pad and pen inside a pocket of his short haori.

"Volume? You're a writer too?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"I am no mere writer! I am Jiraiya, author of the literary masterpiece Icha Icha Paradise!" he proclaimed, taking up a stance that was supposed to induce a feeling of awe.

"You mean,you're Jiraiya? The jiraiya?!"

He wondered if it was the Jiraiya Ino spoke of.

"Damn right i am!"

"Naruto, focus your chakra for me again" Jiraiya instructed the boy, who was clutching his stomach with both arms in recoil after the removal of the five-pronged seal.

Something about the way he manipulated his chakra bothered him. He had never been terribly adept at sensing chakra, but training with the toads had taught him a few things. He could sense chakra a lot better than most people could even without using sage chakra, and he was certain there was something different in his manipulation than usual.

Naruto gave him a suspicious look, but did as instructed. Jiraiya silently gathered natural energy and converted it into sage chakra, enhancing his sensing capabilities. Concentrating on the flow of his chakra, he followed its path through out his network. He noted something strange, it was the second, more ominous, source of chakra slowly trickling into and boosting Naruto's own.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes in suspicion but said nothing, instead moving from his problems with chakra moulding to summoning contracts. Whatever the boy was thinking of doing was his decision; he knew better than try and stop a blonde when they had made their mind up on something thanks to his own team-mate.

Besides, introducing the toads to the protege of their favourite summoner was a far more appealing notion.

After. That_

"What?" Kiba asked in shock staring at his paler-blond friend-in a mixture of pure shock and sheer horror.

"Naruto's in the hospital because he used up too much chakra summoning that giant frog that was hopping around the forest yesterday" Ino repeated, a hint of a snicker in her voice.

To call the news surprising would have been an understatement. Kiba had not believed it possible to collapse from chakra exhaustion when there was a god-knows how old demonic canine sealed in a persons gut, constantly supplementing a persons chakra with its own. Apparently, he had been wrong.

thus he found himself hurrying down the streets of Konoha with his paler-blonde friend and and a disguised Tayuya towards the hospital.

"Since when did Naruto have a contract with the toads? I thought only that Sannin had the toad contract?" Kiba asked, somewhat irritated.

"My guess is we've finally found this Jiraiya guy". Tayuya stated.

Heh. Naruto would drive him mad.

"Come on, we need to find out what room he's in! I want to go visit Lee and Choji too..." Ino grabbed his arm, protesting at his slow pace by reverently pulling him inside the hospital and towards the reception desk.

After gaining the correct room numbers, he followed at a more rapid pace. Far be it to say he was worried, he knew Naruto would not be knocked down by a bit of chakra exhaustion, but something irked him that it had occurred in the first place. Draining himself to exhaustion was a bit much for a couple of frogs wasn't it?

"You guys go on ahead; I want to check up on Chouji!" Ino said cheerfully, bringing his thought back to the earth.

"What? What about Naruto?" he asked in surprise.

"I'll visit him later!" she replied as if brushing aside an annoying fly.

Kiba gave her a scrutinising look.

"What are you doing?" Ino asked in horror when Kiba poked her shoulder.

"Making sure I'm not in some creepy illusion..." he stated pointedly, forming the beginnings of a dispelling seal.

Ino was acting rather strange; normally Kiba would be pulling her away from a room they had already arrived at to make sure Naruto gained enough rest. He could not think of any reasonable explanation for Ino to put off visiting him except a badly executed illusion. this was not Ino (instead, a very good impersonator) or something was wrong with his eyes.

For her part, Ino found this rather offensive, and showed her displeasure through her feared elbow-to-stomach manoeuvre.

"Shut up Baka" she growled, walking past the groaning heap on the floor and into Chouji's room, making sure to slam the door behind her.

When Kiba and Tayuya opened the door to Naruto's room, they felt the headache already growing upon sight of the messy, unmade, and empty bed.

After taking a moment to deposit the takeout ramen on the bedside cabinet, they dashed from the room and down the hall towards the nurse's station for the ward. Naruto could not have gotten far without the nurses noticing; people were hardly going to let the village pariah run around the hospital unchecked.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where Naruto Uzumaki is? he isn't in his room" Kiba asked the nurse on-duty.

She had pink hair that screamed familiar for some reason. Noting her nametag, he derived the conclusion she was Sakura's mother.

Her expression at the mention of Naruto's name confirmed his suspicions.

"he's gone ? Oh well,nothing i can do..." she continued grumbling to herself as she didnt care what happened to the village demon.

"She could have just said she didn't know..." Tayuya grumbled finding herself with an un-answered question .

Muttering curses to themself, they quickly dashed off down the hall in the opposite direction to the opposite pink haired woman, not wishing to fall victim to the irate woman's wrath. They passed several rooms, none of which contained a hint of the blonde haired boy, and was contemplating going a level up onto the roof to search for him, when a familiar voice echoed from an un-searched corridor ahead of them that veered of to the right.

"Ow! Hey, watch it Naruto! You punch him, you punch me too when I use the shadow possession!" Shikamaru complained somewhat stiffly.

His senses that solely existed for picking up on Naruto's knack for getting himself into messy situations spiking, Kiba sped from the door he had just been about to enter and down the hallway to his right with Tayuya behind him. In his haste, he crashed into a collection of waylaid cleaning supplies. Ignoring the new collection of bruises growing on top those from the forest of death, he pushed the mops and brushes off and continued his pace.

The two groaned when they finally caught sight of the correct corridor. There had to be thirty rooms on each side! He was busy inspecting the seventh room when he heard Naruto once again, sounding like he was about to land himself in a rather messy pile of shit.

"I've got a real-live demon inside me! I won't loose to a creep like you!" he yelled.

It was loud enough for Tayuya to determine he was at the completely wrong end of the corridor. One of the Jounins from the knockout matches rounded the corner and opened the door to one room in particular as Tayuya cranked up her speed. Moments later the creepy redheaded kid from Sunagakure emerged from the room looking ready to kill not something but someone.

For a fleeting instant, a horrible sense of fear rushed through her veins at the sight of him. Something about the kid was just off, but very familiar for some reason. It was like when a person described something but could not make the right words come out. They knew the word, but couldnt put it into an actual word.

They dashed past the sand ninja, recovering from their momentary freeze, pushing past the green Jounin into the room. Grains of sand were scattered on the floor, and dangerously close to Lee's form on the bed. Deriving a conclusion, he internally thanked the green Jounin for arriving when he did.

Gratitude aside, they were more worried about Naruto. he stood frozen to the spot, raising alarm bells in Kiba's head. Naruto did not run away from a fight, no matter how tough his opponent. Even if scared out of his wits, he still fought if the need arose (it was one of his most admirable qualities).

No, Naruto was not scared of the sand creep's skills, he was probably excited thinking about the fight they could have in the finals. There was another reason he was so spooked, one that encroached a lot closer to home than simple skills.

Naruto flinched when Ino,who was also present, placed a hand on his shoulder for a barley discernible instant, before crashing towards her. His rasping breath revealed his panic far more clearly than simple observation could. She could see Shikamaru giving her the 'troublesome' look over Naruto's shoulder, .

"He has... He has something inside him too Ino... He's like me... That could have been me...!" Naruto rasped, barley audible.

Ino tightened the grip of her arms had around him. With that information, it was not hard to do the maths; the sand creep had an inner demon of his own, only he had not managed to turn out like Naruto. Something had gone wrong somewhere, and that turned him into the bloodthirsty creep he was today .

It was probably like looking through a mirror into an alternate dimension and meeting his doppelganger.

Ino had never seen Naruto this shell shocked before, and she did not like what she saw one bit.

Leave me a review so i know how im doing!


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Oh look I'm Oppressed And Depressed!

...Nice.

After the weird situation with Gaara ,the four friends had went back to Naruto's hospital room, where they had some cup ramen .

"Say...why didn't you tell us you found Jiraiya?" Tayuya asked, her brow twitching in annoyance.

" Well,when I found he kinda interrupted my training with that pervert Ebisu,when I told him that he should take responsibility,he kinda tried to run off and I had a hard time catching him and when I finally got his name I was excited about being trained by a Sannin that I didn't wanna scare him off, Y'know!! "

Tayuya barely knew Naruto for a week but she absolutely sure that this,was so like him.

"But seriously dude,Chakra exhaustion? you gotta be careful,"

" Kiba's right, " Ino who was the most annoyed spoke, "Y'know how it is...with You in hospitals."

The statement hung in the air for a while and Tayuya figured Naruto really shouldn't be left on his own in Hospitals,who knows what those doctors might do.

"But back to the matter at hand , is there information on Orochimaru ?"

" i spoke to the Hokage, he hasn't seen hide nor tail of Orochimaru and refuses to evacuate the citizens.He doesn't believe me at all, "

Ino sighed.

"If you think about it from a political stand point,it makes sense,people from all over are paying to see these matches,imagine the back drop the village would get it they had to return money like that too thousands of people and if people get suspicious it could cause unwanted panic,"

" oh, as if it's not normal to panic when your FUCKING life's at stake! "Tayuya yelled.

" we can't afford to look at things from a political stand point because money isn't gonna bring people back to life, "

"But, why did Orochimaru go to the Sand Village?" he looked towards Tayuya.

"I can't say,he was supposed to fill the sound four in on the details when we got there,but seeing as I apparently, 'died' I didn't get to hear," she placed a hand on her chin, " my best guess is it has something to do with that Gaara guy, I think maybe Orochimaru put a curse seal on him,like Sasuke. "

"That could explain why he's so violent and why my future self Said 'Gaara is Good' "

"If I'm up against him in the finals I'll be sure to check,"

"Any way," Kiba sighed, " on a more lighted hearted note, " the brunette boy grinned at Tayuya and stray noodle hung off his chin, "These ramen noodles are our first noodles together as friends."

Her faced redend and she stuttered. "Th-that's N-not true! We ate together at the orphanage remember,"

Ino smiled and shook her head. "Nuh-uh,Kiba wasn't there,"

" And at the orphanage,you were Illia-San,here in the hospital,your finally Tayuya! "

She stared in awe before going back to her noodles.

They were right. She was , FINALLY Tayuya.

"Do you think,if we tell Jiraiya it'll cause a butterfly effect ?"

" Honestly,I think we've prattled on about the future way to much already, I can tell Shikamaru is getting suspicious and we already told the third Hokage ,not that He believes us"

"Besides ,you were only told to keep an eye on him,"

" True, "

\--

Naruto was not an emotionally stable person, the mask he wore around people was proof enough of that. Growing up alone and being ignored by everyone made Naruto cherish whatever kind of relationship he could have with other people. He didn't care if people thought of him as an idiot, as long as his existence was acknowledged Naruto didn't care about looking bad. It was no surprise that the blond panicked when Shikamaru asked how he was so sure of Gaara having a demon inside of him.

Shikamaru watched Naruto with a questioning look. The blond seemed to be having an internal battle. He guessed that this was a sensitive subject for Naruto but he didn't know why. Shikamaru had always been an observant person and had been able to notice the way people looked at Naruto and he noticed ,Ino Kiba and Naruto were all involved in something awfully strange. The genius noticed that Naruto had that same sad look at the moment. Putting two and two together, Shikamaru immediatly knew that the looks people gave him had something to do with what Gaara had said on the hospital.

"How do you know he has a demon inside of him Naruto?" Shikamaru asked once again.

Naruto clenched his left fist before relaxing it. "Just a feeling I have!" He exclaimed with a smile plastered on his face.

Shikamaru was about to call him a liar but saw the look on Naruto's eye, a look of pain and desperation. "Fine," he said with a sigh, "What do you plan on doing about Gaara?"

"I'm not sure," Naruto admitted, "We should see how Sasuke does against him and if things look bad I'll enter the fight."

"You'll be disqualified if you interrupt a fight," Shikamaru said with a frown.

Naruto smiled. "I know," he glanced at Sasuke and Gaara with a smirk, "But I really want to fight Sasuke so I can't let him get killed."

"Man," Shikamaru said with a sigh, "I guess I'll help if the situation comes."

"You should also watch your backs," Shino said from behind Naruto.

Naruto jumped away with a yelp. "What the hell Shino! Don't just appear behind people's backs!" He exclaimed with an angry look.

"What did you mean Shino?" Shikamaru asked with a frown, whatever it was Shikamaru knew that it would be a pain in the ass.

"I overheard the sand shinobi talking about a plan," Shino said, "I'm not sure what that plan is but my bugs have detected small spikes of chakra throughout the village's outskirts that disappear before being traced. This means that whatever their planning is big."

Something inside Naruto's mind clicked,that was it! Why Orochimaru left for the Sand village,they were allies.

"Just what I needed," Shikamaru said with a groan, "I should've never gotten out of bed."

"Do you think we should tell the Hokage?" Shino asked in a serious tone.

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not really sure," he explained, "I noticed that there are several Anbu around the crowd so he probably already knows."

Sasuke stared at Gaara with a frown. Kakashi had helped him increase his speed and master Lee's taijutsu style. The jounin had even taught him a move that would be of great help against the sand ninja. Not to mention the aid his sharingan would give him on the fight. The Uchiha knew that he would win and smirked.

"Are you two ready?" Genma asked, receiving nods from the two genin, "Okay then, begin!"

Sharingan coming to life, Sasuke ran at Gaara in an inhuman speed. Gaara simply stood where he was and calmly unleashed his sand. Sasuke faked a punch, making Gaara use his sand to cover, and smirked. The Uchiha disappeared from sight, in an amazing show of speed, and appeared behind Gaara.

The sand ninja used his sand to strike Sasuke but the sharingan saw the move coming. Sasuke leaned to the right, dodging the sand, and threw a punch that made contact with Gaara's jaw. The redhead sailed through the air before falling on the ground with a painful thud. Gaara stood up and glared at Sasuke.

"What's wrong? Is that all you got?" Sasuke asked with a smirk, "You're no match for me."

"I'll kill you," Gaara hissed.

"Let's see if it's not the other way around," Sasuke said as he ran at Gaara.

Gaara tried to hit Sasuke with sand but found that the Uchiha was too fast, much like Lee. Sasuke watched the sand chasing him and smirked. He ran around Gaara before running directly at him. Gaara's eyes widened as Sasuke's foot made contact with his jaw. The sand ninja sailed through the air before meeting ground once again.

"I have to finish this now," Sasuke said through pants. In order to move so fast, Sasuke needed to constantly enhance his leg muscles with chakra. This meant that he was limited to only using taijutsu while on that speed.

Gaara's sand enveloped the redhead and created a dome around him. Sasuke threw kunais at it but watched as they bounced off of it. Like he guessed, the density of the sand made it as strong as steel. The only way he could end the match would be to use the new jutsu Kakashi had taught him.

Sasuke ran to the top of the arena's wall and gathered his chakra into his left hand. He gave a quick glance at Gaara and saw what appeared to be an eyeball forming on top of the sand dome. Sasuke didn't know what his opponent was doing but whatever Gaara was planning had to be stoppedt. Sasuke got the feeling that it would be a strong jutsu so it was better to stop it before it was performed. Sasuke was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of chirping birds and smirked, the match would be over soon.

"Don't tell me you taught him that jutsu!" Gai exclaimed in shock as he turned his gaze to the masked jounin standing next to him. Kakashi had met with them after dropping Sasuke off in the fight area.

"That's the reason why I wanted him as my student," Kakashi said, "He's much like me apart from the sharingan."

"But to teach him that move!" Gai said with a frown.

"He knows the restrictions of that move, he can handle it," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

'It's ready,'Sasuke thought with a smirk.

Sasuke ran at Gaara with a yell. His attack would be able to get through the sand, there was no doubt. Sand shot out of the dome but the sharingan saw each move. Sasuke leaned to the left to dodge an oncoming shot of sand before spinning to the right to avoid a large wave of sand. The sand went back to Gaara but it would be a few seconds before it could strike again, more than enough time for Sasuke.

"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled as the attack pierced through the dome.

'What is this?'Gaara thought from inside of the dome with a hand inside of his left shoulder. 'What is this feeling mother? It feels wet and hot, what is it?'

A single droplet was heard and Gaara's eyes widened. "It's blood," he whispered, "Blood! MY BLOOD!"

Gaara's scream was heard throughout the arena, scaring most of the crowd and even a few ninja. The dome of sand fell apart and Gaara clutched his head in pain. The Uchiha knew that something was off by the look on Gaara's eyes but knew that he would still win the match.

"Gaara is hurt," Temari said with a look of disbelief. She noticed that many people were put to sleep and gave a nod to her brother, "It's started. We have to get Gaara to his position."

Kankuro nodded. "You're right," he said, "It would be bad to have him transform here."

The two prepared to jump down to the fight area to get Gaara but found that they were unable to move.

"Shadow possession success," Shikamaru said with a smirk.

The two siblings growled at the shadow user. Before they could say anything, the two were knocked out by Shino. The bug user had devised a plan in case the two sand siblings made a move and it had gone perfectly.

The two genin saw many ninja jump out of the stands and attack the leaf ninja. Soon, battles broke out all throughout the stands. The enemy ninja wore sand and sound headbands, meaning that it had been worse than what Shino had thought.

"Looks like I was right," Shino said

"We should just attack the enemy ninja," Shino said, "It's not subtle but it's the only thing we can do at this point."

Shikamaru shook his head. "We have to plan our next move, it won't be smart to just charge in," he explained, "They must have an ace in the hole. I don't think that they just planned on attacking head on, frontal attacks are always used as distractions. All we have to do is find their secret weapon and take it down."

"What is that secret weapon?" Shino asked.

Shikamaru glanced at Gaara, "I think I know what it is."

Gaara clutched his head in pain. His mother was angry at him for not doing a good job on killing the Uchiha. Her screams were loud and Gaara's tried to reason with her but to no avail. Only killing the Uchiha would make her stop screaming at him.

"Calm down Gaara!" Baki yelled as he appeared next to Gaara, "You have to follow the mission!"

"Nobody will leave this spot," Genma said with a frown.

"Damn," Baki growled, "Gaara I want you to leave while I take care of this man."

"Sasuke," Genma said with a serious look, "I want you to make Gaara leave the village. I have a feeling that they want to use him for something big."

"What about my match?" Sasuke asked with a scowl.

"The exams are canceled," Genma answered, "Your village needs you now, so go!"

Sasuke growled but nodded. "Hey Gaara!" The Uchiha called out, "Let's finish our match somewhere else."

Gaara hissed as he watched Sasuke leave the arena. He couldn't leave. His mother wanted the Uchiha's blood and she would have it. Gaara would make sure of that. If he killed the Uchiha then his mother wouldn't be angry at him anymore and she would stop hurting him. His existence would be proven with the death of the Uchiha.

"Get back here!" Gaara yelled as he ran after Sasuke.

\--

Ino felt tired and didn't know why. She had been watching Sasuke's match and it had been interesting. It wasn't as good as Naruto's in her opinion but it was a good match nonetheless. Her eyelids felt heavy and she made a note that maybe she was training too hard. She felt a hand on her shoulder and her eyes snapped opened.

"You're on a genjutsu," Tayuya said with her hand on her shoulder. She took it off and placed a hand on Chouji, "Release."

"W-what?" Choji muttered as he woke up.

"Listen up you two," Tayuya said getting the attention of the two genin, "Chouji I want you to stay here and keep the villagers safe."

"W-what are you talking about?" Ino asked in slight fear.

"The Invasion dummy! its started," Tayuya explained. Ino and Choji looked around and noticed several ninja fighting with ninjas from the sand and sound villages, "Ino I want you to find Naruto and tell him to go help Sasuke out."

"Right," Ino said with a nod.

Kakashi,who was also here, ran through hand signs and slammed his hands onto an unconscious man's back. "Summoning Jutsu," a small white dog with a Konoha headband as a collar appeared, "I want you to look for a scent of sand moving away from the village."

"Got it," the dog said with a nod.

"Ino I want you to tell Naruto to follow this dog," Kakashi instructed, "It will take him to where Sasuke is. Go now."

"I'll find Naruto," Ino said with a nod as she and the dog left.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura exclaimed when she entered the participant's balcony.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked before turning to the small dog next to Sakura, "Who's dog is that?"

"I'm not just a dog. My name is Pakkun and I am a ninja dog," the dog said.

"There's no time for introductions," Sakura said in slight panic, "Kakashi-sensei told me get you guys to go after Sasuke so you can help him out."

"How do we find them?" Shino asked.

"Leave that to me," Pakkun said with pride, "I have his scent so just follow me."

"Let's go," Shino said. Pakkun, Shino and Sakura leapt out of the arena while Shikamaru groaned.

"Man," Shikamaru said with a groan, "What did I do to deserve this?" The teen thought of just staying there but knew that the village needed his help. With a sigh, Shikamaru leapt out of the arena and followed after his comrades.

...with Naruto...

In the end no matter how much he believed it was futile,Naruto decided to warn the Hokage.

He saw a group of ANBU jumping towards the Hokage. Four fake ANBU attacked the group but a single one with a white cloak charged at them. Naruto watched in awe as the single ANBU defeated the four enemy ninja, disguised as ANBU, in just a few moves.

"Throw me up there as hard as you can!" Naruto ordered. The clone complied and flung the blond towards one of the jumping figures.

.../Sasuke v Gaara...

Sasuke panted as he ran through the woods outside of Konoha. He was eager to fight Gaara but knew that fighting him near the village would only get him distracted. It would only be him against Gaara, the perfect way to end his match with the sand ninja. His training with Kakashi had made him a new person and Gaara would pose no threat to him.

Sasuke landed on a large clearing and smirked at Gaara, who landed in front of him. "We will settle our match here Gaara."

"I will kill you," Gaara said with a psychotic glare.

"You're no match for an Uchiha," Sasuke said as his sharingan came to life.

...elsewhere...

Orochimaru growled as he stood in front of his old sensei. The blond brat had put a major damper on his plans. The snake sannin had planned this attack in order to get closer to Sasuke and deal a harsh blow on his home village but certain complications like Tayuya suddenly getting killed and Kabuto being Out of commision. He had been looking forward to killing the Hokage but now he was forced to leave before things got too heated. He watched the fights going on around the arena and smirked when he saw several sand ninja being killed. He couldn't believe how naive their village was, it only took him a few pretty words to get them riled up for the attack,of course he had also killed the Kazekage but,whatever.

"Are you okay Third Hokage?" asked the ANBU in concern, while five more stood in front of Orochimaru with weapons on their hands.

"I'm fine," Sarutobi said, .

"As you wish sir," the ANBU said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"My… my, you give me a lot of attention Sarutobi-sensei," Orochimaru said with a chuckle, amused at the ANBU who thought they would kill him.

"You will die here Orochimaru," Sarutobi said with a frown.

"I don't believe I will," Orochimaru said as he turned into a pile of mud before disappearing into the ground.

"Find him quick!" the Third Hokage ordered. Some of the ANBU chased after Orochimaru while most of them stayed with the Hokage.

"We need to take you to a safe place," an ANBU said.

Sarutobi nodded. "Very well, there's not much I can do except be there to guide my people when this is over."

...back to Naruto...

"Wind Style: Wind Wave!" Naruto yelled as a small wave of wind came out of his hands. The attack his Jirobo dead on but did little to no damage, "Dammit."

Naruto had been fighting Jirobo by keeping a safe distance between the two and using long range attacks. His wind jutsu proved to be no match for Jirobo's large figure and earth jutsu. The sound ninja hadn't been able to land a hit on him, which Naruto was grateful for, since he had seen what Jirobo's punches could do.

"Stop running away you piece of trash!" Jirobo yelled as he threw a large boulder at Naruto.

The blond jumped away but was suddenly struck on the back. He fell on the ground with a painful thud and jumped away quickly when he saw a kind of web shooting towards him. Naruto looked at the newcomers and gritted his teeth. There were now four sound ninja against him.

"You're having trouble with this one jirobo,"

"I wouldn't say that ," Jirobo said with a frown.

"It might not be Jirobo's fault. The kid ruined master Orochimaru's plans and dodged an attack from Kidomaru," said a sound ninja with blue hair, "But dodging an attack from him isn't so hard anyway."

"Watch it Sakon," Kidomaru said with a snarl.

"Wind Style:vacuum bullets!" Naruto blew a powerful gust out of his mouth. The attack hit home but only managed to knock Kidomaru against the wall while everyone else dodged, or in Jirobo's case, planted his feet on the ground.

"We will make sure your death is not pretty," said a head coming out of Sakon's back.

"Let's have some fun with him first Ukon," Sakon said with a twisted smile.

'Wait, there are only two of them. Where did the other one go?'Naruto thought while looking around for the fourth member.

"Here I am!" Jirobo yelled from under the ground. The earth beneath Naruto's feet gave out and he received a powerful punch on his jaw.

The blond sailed through the air before crashing into the arena's wall. Naruto fell to the ground and tried to stand but fell back down. His vision was blurry and everything seemed to spin. That Jirobo really packed a punch, he had been smart to stay away from him at first. Jirobo had been enough trouble as it was but with the rest of the Sound Four joining in, things became a lot more difficult.

"You damned piece of trash!" Kidomaru yelled as he stood up. He had a large gash on the left side of his face and what appeared to be a broken nose, "I'll make you pay for catching me off guard!"

Kidomaru ran at him, blinded by rage, while Naruto stood up slowly. "Wind Style," Naruto muttered as he went through four hand signs, "Air Bullets!"

The blond put a hand around his mouth and shot out several balls of air. The attacks struck Kidomaru on the chest and one struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Naruto grinned when he saw the ninja go down. The sound ninja had underestimated him and paid for it but he knew that the others wouldn't make the same mistake.

The ground shook beneath Naruto and his eyes widened.

'Forgot about him,'

Naruto thought as he jumped in order to avoid the attack. The blond felt a foot connect with his head and cried in pain as he fell to the ground. He managed to regain his footing and landed safely on the ground, but when he did he was painfully reminded that Jirobo was still fighting. The blond received a punch to the gut that sent him crashing against a tree.

"You're not very good," Sakon said with a chuckle.

"S-shut up," Naruto said while standing up shakily. His head was throbbing and there was a trial of blood covering the right side of his face. The blond took out a single kunai and pointed it at Jirobo.

"What are you going to do with that?" Jirobo asked with a smirk, "You won't even be able to hit me with that little knife. Im not Tayuya,"

Naruto threw the kunai at Jirobo but ran through two hand signs and pointed his palm at it. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!" A stream of wind hit the kunai and increased its speed, taking Jirobo by surprise.

Jirobo tried to dodge but the kunai stabbed into his right arm. "Damn you!" He exclaimed in anger, "I will kill you for this."

"You deserved that fatty," Kidomaru said with an amused smirk.

Naruto slipped into his taijutsu stance and looked at his opponents. From the way they talked to each other, he assumed that they were stronger than Jirobo. Naruto didn't know how he fared against Jirobo since he had only taken Kidomaru out due to the sound ninja just charging at him. So far the

"Naruto!" the blond heard from the stands. He turned to his right and saw Ino running towards him.

"Looks like we have company," Sakon said with a smirk, "Take care of her Jirobo."

Naruto's eyes widened and he saw Jirobo charge at Ino. The blond immediately ran after him at a speed he didn't know he had. He watched as Jirobo raised his fist and Ino's eyes widened in surprise. The sound ninja brought his fist down but before it could make contact,Ino growled and raised her leg in anger, he received a powerful kick to the stomach Jirobo sailed through the air before crashing against the arena's wall.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked harshly

"Don't talk to me like that!" Ino snapped with a frown.

"You can't be here Ino. You'll get hurt!" Naruto exclaimed in concern.

Ino's eyes softened and she gave a small smile. "I'm a ninja too, Naruto," she said, "I'm able to take care of myself. I've been training hard to do so."

"But I can't let you get hurt!" Naruto said with desparation on his eyes.

"Naruto," Ino said with a sad smile, "Remember what you told me when I asked why you trained so hard. You said that you wanted to get stronger so you would be able to help your friends and not be a burden."

"Ino," Naruto said sadly. He knew that Ino felt like a burden and had been working hard in order to be considered important but no matter how hard she trained,a small of him always just wanted to lock her away,keep her away from the battle and protect her no matter how strong she was. Right now, he was making her feel like a burden.

"Please Naruto," Ino said in desperation, "Let me help you. I'll show you that I can take care of myself!"

"Fine," Naruto said with a small grin, "I guess three to two are better odds."

"Unfortunately you won't be fighting them," Tayuya said as she jumped in front of them.

"Illia?" Naruto asked in confusion,he wasnt sure cuz she was wearing a Mask but he recognised the red hair.

"I'll be fighting these three," Tayuya said before turning to Ino, "I believe you had something to do."

"Right," Ino said with a nod, "Naruto we have to go help Sasuke with Gaara."

"Sasuke's is still fighting him?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"He is. That ninja dog will take you to where they are," Tayuya explained, "

"I got it Tayuya," Naruto said before nodding at Ino.

"Let's go," Ino said to the dog. The ninja dog nodded and leapt out of the arena with Naruto and Ino following.

"What! Your Tayuya! Your still alive!!" The remaining members of the sound four stood shell shocked and furious.

"Oh boy,"

Tayuya said with a sigh as he sturned to the two sound ninja,Jirobo being unconscious.

"You should all give up,you've never stood a chance and today won't make any different," Tayuya cursed with a snarl,. She half bluffing half serious,thirty minutes in and she only injured kidomaru and jirobo got back up too. but they didnt know that.

"We have no choice but to escape," Sakon whispered to his two teammates, "Jirobo, you will carry Kidomaru while I buy us some time."

The big sound ninja nodded in understanding while Sakon got into a fighting stance. If he could get his brother inside of Tayuya then their escape would be successful. He would need a distraction to get close, that would be almost impossible Tayuya knew about his bloodline.

"Nice to see that you guys still suck,especially now that I'm gone," Tayuya said with an eye-smile, "

'Damn! She's just messing with us,'Sakon thought with a frown. He glanced at his teammates and saw that Jirobo was getting ready to sprint to Kidomaru's fallen form .

With a nod to his teammates, Sakon charged at Tayuya. The sound ninja tried to punch her but the girl simply leaned to the right. He tried a kick but she jumped over his leg before delivering a kick of her own. Sakon sailed through the air but managed to regain his balance and landed on the ground safely. Tayuya was not one for close quarters combat.

Jirobo slung Kidomaru's unconscious body over his shoulder, they were ready.

Sakon charged at Tayuya once more. The girl inwardly sighed; the sound ninja didn't know how to control their emotions. "You were always skilled but letting emotions control your actions was a big disadvantage"

"A bit hypocritical huh!?"

"I meant if you work for someone like Orochimaru!"

The sound shinobi threw a punch that Tayuya caught easily. Sakon smirked before received a backhand to the face. He felt some teeth leave his mouth as he was knocked back by the strong strike. He was finally knocked against the ground but managed to smirk.

Tayuya's eyes narrowed when she saw Sakon smirk. Something was off but the she didn't know what? then it clicked. she felt her hand twitch involuntarily before it reached into her kunai holster. The hand pulled out a kunai and put it to her neck.

Sakon chuckled. "I got you,a bit rusty aren't we?" he said with an evil smirk, "

A head came out of Tayuya's shoulder and grinned. "See you in hell," Ukon said before running the kunai through her neck.

...Sasuke v Gaara...

Gaara's sand shot at Sasuke from all directions. Sasuke used his enhanced speed to dodge the sand. Gaara glared as the sand continued chasing after the Uchiha. His mother would get the blood she wanted. Sasuke could run all he wanted but his mother would quench her thirst in the end.

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he rolled on the ground in order to avoid another shot of sand. Gaara was attacking from all directions and not giving him time to counter. If he wanted to hurt the sand ninja then he had to drop his enhanced speed. Doing this would leave him vulnerable to attacks but it would give him the power he needed to bring Gaara down.

The Uchiha jumped up a tree before coming to a rest on a branch. He ran through hand signs and put a hand on his mouth. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A large ball of flame shot out of Sasuke's mouth. The fireball flew towards Gaara but before the attack could hurt the redhead, a large wall created of sand appeared before him. The fireball clashed against the wall of sand before bursting and creating a large explosion.

Sasuke shielded his eyes from the explosion. He didn't noticed the stream of sand making its way towards him before it was too late. The sand gripped his foot and flung him towards a tree. Sasuke sailed through the air but regained his balance and used his feet to bounce off the tree. Gaara's eyes widened when he saw Sasuke flying towards him. Sasuke raised his fist and punched Gaara on the jaw. Gaara's skin cracked and he crashed against a tree.

Sasuke panted from where he stood. There was no way that Gaara would be getting up after that. He allowed a small smirk to escape his face. He had been able to defeat Gaara, this proved that he was strong. Not strong enough to beat Itachi but he was getting there.

The Uchiha gasped when sand shot out of where Gaara had been. Gaara walked towards him but his appearance had changed. His right arm was now covered in sand as was half of his face. He had a crazy look on his eye and Sasuke couldn't help but shiver. Gaara was leaking out a killing intent even greater than Zabuza's.

"You're dead Uchiha!" Gaara yelled in anger.

 **SHikamaru and the others.**

"Are we almost there?" Sakura asked in slight panic.

"They stopped running," Pakkun explained, "The two have probably begun to fight. We will reach them in a few minutes."

Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino had been following Pakkun for what appeared to be a long time. The three genin couldn't believe what was happening on the village. On their way out they had seen a giant three-headed snake attacking the village. There were fights between ninja almost everywhere on the village. Some corpses were seen around the village and many wounded ninja dragged themselves around the village. The three genin had been rendered speechless at what they witnessed. This was their first war and they had never imagined the things that they saw.

"We have to think of a plan," Shikamaru informed his two comrades, "Gaara is no pushover, we can't engage him without a well thought out strategy."

"What do you suggest?" Shino asked, "We don't have a lot to work with. We're only three ninja with very different abilities."

Shikamaru frowned. Everything Shino had said was true. His own jutsu were very limited while Shino's bugs were no match for Gaara. Sakura had no apparent skill and would only get in the way so she was discarded from the battle.

"Don't worry," Pakkun said, "I smell one of the other summon hounds coming this way. I assume that Kakashi sent another team to join with us."

Shikamaru smirked, he knew exactly who was coming. "Our chances just went up," he said, "All we have to do is stall Gaara until Naruto arrives."

"How do you know Naruto is coming?" Shino asked.

"I know Naruto well," Shikamaru said with a small smirk, "He wouldn't let us fight Gaara alone. Even if he isn't strong enough to defeat him or even if he's scared. He won't let us fight him alone, that's just the type of person he is."

"How will Naruto help?" Shino deadpanned, "He's not as strong as Sasuke."

"Then you're in for a surprise when he gets here," Sakura said in an amused tone, leaving a very confused Shino.

...back to Naruto and Ino...

Naruto gritted his teeth as he leapt from tree to tree, following the summon dog. The dog had informed them that Sasuke was fighting at the moment which meant that he had less time than he originally thought. Even though he admitted that Sasuke was strong, Gaara was on an entirely different level. If Gaara had a demon inside of him too, then that meant that he could use its power. If Gaara's demon was anything like his own then Sasuke would be in trouble.

...Gaara v Sasuke...

Sasuke panted as he sat against a tree. Ever since Gaara transformed into a kind of half-demon, his skills and sand control had gone through the roof. Sasuke had been forced to retreat and had been running away from Gaara while thinking of what to do. Fire jutsu would only be a waste of chakra since Gaara's sand would only block them. That only left the Chidori but he would need time to charge it up.

Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw grains of sand on the corner of the tree. He quickly jumped away and watched as the tree was engulfed with sand. Gaara stood where the tree had been and gave an evil smirk. The Uchiha threw a couple of kunai but Gaara simply raised his sand-covered arm to block them.

"Damn," Sasuke muttered as he leapt away from Gaara. The sand ninja's sand was getting on his nerves but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Stop running and let me kill you!" Gaara yelled with rage. The jinchuuriki shot a wave of sand at Sasuke's retreating figure and smirked when he saw it hit its mark.

Sasuke crashed into the ground and gasped in pain. He tried to stand but found it useless when he felt sand surround his whole body. His eyes widened, he had seen what the sand did to its victims. The Uchiha screamed as he tried to get away from the sand that would crush him to death. The sand started to tighten around his body and the sound of breaking bones was heard throughout the woods.

Gaara licked his lips when he saw Sasuke squirm under his sand. Soon the Uchiha's blood would quench his mother's thirst, and his existence would be proven. He added pressure to the sand and smirked when he heard Sasuke scream in pain. Gaara felt so alive when he heard people scream in pain, it meant that they knew that he existed. He would soon ease his pain.

...Tayuya v Sound ninja...

Tayuya's lifeless body fell on the floor. Sakon smirked at his handiwork but the smirk disappeared when 'Tayuya' bursted in a cloud of smoke.

"W-what!" Sakon screamed in denial, "Who was I fighting?"

"A shadow clone," a voice said behind him before he lost consciousness.

Ukon watched his brother fall unconscious and charged at her. The redhead simply used her superior speed to go behind Ukon before knocking him unconscious.

"I guess they got away," Tayuya sighed as he watched Jirobo, with an unconscious Kidomaru on his shoulder, leaving the arena. If Tayuya was thinking straight,she would have killed Sakon and Ukon,but she didn't , she just left them there , too worried about her friends to focus.

...Sasuke v Gaara...

Sasuke screamed in agony. His body was being completely crushed and he could do nothing about it. He already found it difficult to breath and his movement had been completely restrained. Itachi had never seemed so far away. If he couldn't beat Gaara then how would he be able to kill his brother and avenge his clan?

"Sasuke!" Sakura's scream was heard.

Gaara turned his gaze to the newcomers. Three more ninja had arrived which meant that he would get to kill more people. His mother would be quite content with him. He growled when he saw a swarm of bugs come at him. Forced to release Sasuke from his hold, Gaara raised his sand-covered arm to avoid being hurt by the bugs.

Sakura immediately ran to Sasuke and began to cry. "Sasuke! Please be alright!" she cried out as she held his body close, this can't be happening! Why was her team just falling apart like this!?.

Shikamaru frowned. Like he guessed, Sakura proved to be useless against Gaara. Emotions would only get people hurt on battle. That only left Shino and himself to stall Gaara long enough to have Naruto arrive and help put Gaara down.

"I will kill you all!" Gaara yelled as he shot a wave of sand at them.

Shino instantly put up a protective wall of bugs. The sand and bugs clashed and Shino saw a large number of his bugs dying. Fighting with his bugs wouldn't be an option against Gaara. They had to be able to outsmart him, good thing that Shikamaru was with him.

"Shino," Shikamaru said with his gaze to Gaara, "I want you to keep Gaara busy. I'll try to trap him with my Shadow Possession jutsu. I'll hold him as long as I can."

"Very well," Shino said with a nod, "I'll try my best to distract him."

"Sakura!" Shikamaru yelled, "I want you to take Sasuke out of here. He's in no condition to fight!"

"R-right," Sakura said shakily. She steadied Sasuke with her shoulder and leapt away from the three genin.

"He won't be going anywhere!" Gaara yelled. The sand jinchuuriki shot a wave of sand at Sakura's retreating figure but found it was a bug clone, "Where are you Sasuke?"

"You'll be fighting me," Shino said emotionlessly.

The bug user shot his bugs at Gaara who used his sand for cover. The bugs avoided the sand and latched into Gaara's body. Gaara flailed his body until the bugs were pushed away. He charged at Shino and punched him on the chest but his body turned into a pile of bugs. Gaara grunted in pain when several kunai struck his back.

"I will kill you!" Gaara's scream echoed through the woods as sand began to cover more of his body. His back became covered by sand and a large tail made of sand was formed.

Gaara tried to charge at Shino but found himself unable to move. "Shadow Possession success," Shikamaru said with a smirk.

"Damn you!" Gaara screamed as he tried to move. Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he tried to keep hold of the sand ninja. He was already low on chakra from his fight with Temari, holding Gaara for more than a few minutes would be impossible.

'Hurry up Naruto,'Shikamaru thought as he struggled to keep Gaara in place.

"Let me go!" Gaara screamed as his body started to counter the effects of the shadow possession.

"Dammit!" Shikamaru cursed as Gaara begin to overpower him, "Shino! Keep him still with your bugs!"

"Right," Shino said as his bugs covered Gaara's body. Gaara's sand enveloped the bugs before crushing them, "It's useless. You're on your own."

"I'll prove my existence!" Gaara yelled as he finally broke away from Shikamaru's hold. The sand ninja instantly charged at the lazy genius and struck him on the chest. Shino was about to aid Shikamaru but was struck by Gaara's sand. The two leaf shinobi fell on the ground while panting in exhaustion, "I'll kill you both before going after the Uchiha."

Shikamaru and Shino could do nothing but stay where they were. Their bodies gave up on them and they ached all over. Gaara's strength was monstrous compared to theirs. Shikamaru cursed his luck, all he ever wanted was to have a peaceful life with a family but all that was over now. He gazed at the clouds and smiled, he would miss watching them.

Gaara took his time in making his way over to the two fallen shinobi. He savored each second of their suffering. They knew that they were going to die and they would scream in fear. That was what Gaara lived for, killing to prove he still lived.

"Wind Style: Vacuum pellets!" A powerful gust of wind knocked Gaara away from the fallen genin.

Shikamaru turned his gaze to see Naruto and Ino running over to them. Ino kneeled next to the two in order to check for wounds. Naruto stood next to them in his taijutsu stance, Shikamaru turned to the blond and his eyes widened when he saw something he never thought he would see in Naruto's eyes;fury.

"You came to die too?" Gaara asked with a crazed look on his face, "Very well, I'll kill you too!"

"As if I would die from someone like you," Naruto started with his hands and mouth twitching from pure fury.

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto shot out several balls of wind that hit Gaara all over his body. The attack ended with Naruto putting his hand on Gaara's stomach, "Wind Style: Spiraling Wind Ball!" The attack's force knocked Gaara away from the blond jinchuuriki. The redhead crashed against a tree and struggled to get up.

"N-Naruto?" Shino asked himself in disbelief. He had never expected Naruto to do what he and Shikamaru couldn't by himself. What Sakura had said was true, Naruto's power would surprise them all.

"Ino," Naruto said in a serious voice, "I want you to take Shikamaru and Shino out of here."

"Not this again!" Ino snapped, "I'll help you. You don't have to do this alone!"

"Fine," Naruto answered, "But when it gets too dangerous, I want you three away from here."

Ino couldn't answer as a wave of sand shot off towards Naruto. The blond rolled to the right and his eyes widened when he saw the sand rip a tree from its roots. Gaara was now almost completely covered in sand . Gaara charged at Naruto with a scream, the blond tried to jump away but was struck by a wave of sand. The blond sailed through the air before spinning and landing on the ground with a light thud.

"Fire Style: Fire ball jutsu!" Ino yelled as she put a hand on her mouth and shot out several fire balls.

Naruto had no idea she had elemental jutsus.

The fire balls struck Gaara, making him wince slightly. Gaara turned to Ino but as soon as he did, he received a large wound on his back, courtesy of Naruto's wind bullets. Gaara growled before shooting sand at the annoying blonds. Naruto rolled away from the attack while creating a shadow clone. Ino wasn't fast enough to dodge but the Naruto clone used a substitution jutsu on her, making it take the hit and dispel afterwards.

Naruto gazed at Ino and gave her a firm nod. Ino responded with a confident grin and a nod of her own, showing she understood. Since they trained together a lot, they had learned a few combination attacks. It turned out that the two could cover each other's weaknesses pretty well.

"Fire/Wind Style: Bullet Barrage!" The two yelled as they ran through hand signs and put a hand to their mouths.

The two blonds shot out several air and fire balls at Gaara. The sand jinchuuriki used sand to cover the attack but the fire from Ino's liquid fire balls brought his defenses down. The air and fire bullets broke through the sand barrier and struck Gaara all throughout his body. The attack ended with two strong air and fire bullets hitting the redhead and knocking him back several feet.

Naruto panted as he watched Gaara fall on the ground. "How are you on chakra Ino?" he asked, "I have used about half of my reserves."

"I think I have enough chakra for one more attack," Ino admitted while panting heavily, "Why don't I go inside of his mind and control him, while you deliver the final blow?"

"No!" Naruto yelled, almost immediately, "Don't even think of doing that."

"Why not?" Ino asked in confusion.

"Because he has a demon inside of him," Shikamaru said while sitting against a tree, "Isn't that right, Naruto?"

"What are you talking about? That's impossible," Ino said with a shocked expression.

She was only pretending though. She messed up. She didnt have mentioned going into the mind of a jinchuuriki knowing Naruto would hate that idea.

"I didn't remember until now," Shikamaru began, "But many of the tailed demons would be sealed within humans on times of war. This was to gain an upper hand when it came to power."

"Y-you're serious?" Ino asked in fake disbelief as if she didnt know this since she was four years old.

Shikamaru nodded. "It's true," he turned to Naruto, "You knew he wasn't lying when he admitted that he had a demon within him because you've heard of this subject before, right?"

Naruto stood quietly before turning to Shikamaru with a smile. "Right," he said, "I think that it was one of those classes where I actually paid attention." He lied

"Is Gaara defeated?" Shino asked after a moment of silence.

"No," Naruto said with a frown, "It was way too easy. I know that he'll get up soon."

"What should we do?" Shino asked with slight alarm heard on his voice.

"All of you have to leave," Naruto said in a serious tone.

"I'm not leaving Naruto!" Ino exclaimed with a frown.

"You're almost out of chakra Ino," Naruto said with a sad look, "Please leave, I couldn't live with myself if I knew I got you hurt."

"I can still knock him into next week!"

"You won't be able to get close to him!"

Ino was about to protest but saw the look on Naruto's eyes. It was a look of desperation mixed with nothing but concern, all directed to her. She couldn't help but blush slightly knowing that Naruto really cared for her. "Fine," she said with a sad smile, "I'll leave with these two. But please, I want you to come back to the village safely and if you don't then you'll have to make it up to me."

"Fine," Naruto said with a small smile, "I promise I'll kick this guy's ass."

Ino couldn't help but laugh slightly before helping Shikamaru and Shino up. The three began to leave the scene with Ino throwing a last glance at Naruto.'I know you'll beat him,'she thought with a smile,' we have an entire world to change after all.'

Naruto watched his friends leave with a grin before turning to where Gaara had been thrown. Soon enough, the sand ninja stood back up with a look of anger on his face. Naruto slipped into his taijutsu stance and infused chakra onto his blade.

The blond ran at Gaara, who used his sand to attack him. Not having a lot of energy left, Naruto was hit and thrown back. Using the ground as a spring, Naruto leapt at Gaara. The sand ninja used his sand arm to cover the attack. The blond punched the arm before using his blade to cut through it. As soon as the arm fell on the ground, another one began to reform. Before it formed completely, Naruto kicked Gaara on the face.

The redhead flinched and felt a fist connect with his stomach. Gaara raised his fist to attack but Naruto hopped to the right and delivered a kick to his stomach. Naruto followed with an elbow to Gaara's chest and a kick to the face. Gaara recovered from the kick and punched Naruto away with his newly formed right arm.

The blond landed on the ground with a hard thud but stood up immediately. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he yelled as three clones appeared beside him. The three charged at Gaara and began to attack.

Gaara wasn't able to strike back since they wouldn't stop their attacks. One of the clones' stance fell and Gaara took the opportunity. He punched the first clone, while blocking a kick with his sand arm. He shot a stream of sand at the last two clones and looked for the original. He hissed when he felt something dig into his tail. He turned around to see Naruto trying to jump away but before he could get away, Gaara managed to punch him with his sand arm.

Naruto sailed through the air and smirked. "Got you," he said as he crashed to the ground.

Gaara heard the sound of something burning before the kunai that had been stabbed into his tail exploded. The redhead screamed in pain, since the tail was the only vulnerable place on his body. He was blown away before crashing against a tree, headfirst. Gaara was instantly knocked unconscious.

Naruto stood up shakily and glanced at Gaara's unconscious form. He smirked, he might be bleeding all over the place, have broken bones, internal bleeding but at least he managed to win. Sand shot out of Gaara's body and began to cover him. Naruto gasped when he felt demonic chakra around the area. Gaara's demon was taking over.

The sand formed a giant raccoon made of sand with a single tail. "I'm finally out!"Shukaku cheered, "No more stupid kid holding me back!"

"Damn," Naruto said with a weary look on his face.

"I only have to take care of one thing first," the one-tailed demon turned towards Naruto and gave an evil smirk,"I'll kill you to quench my thirst!"

"What the hell do I do?" Naruto asked himself through gritted teeth.

A million thoughts raced through Naruto's head as Shukaku's giant claws descended upon him, with the most prominent one being, 'fuck!' The blond replaced himself with a log, before putting some distance between himself and the giant demon. He had no idea what to do. He was almost out of chakra so wind jutsu would only be a waste of since it wouldn't hurt something that big. Summoning was very tempting but he wasn't able to summon Gamabunta without the fox's chakra.

"Where are you?"Naruto heard Shukaku yell.

The blond sat against a tree, hidden from the demon's view, and began to brainstorm ways of beating it without the aid of the Kyuubi. Shadow clones might be able to slow down the one-tailed demon but they required a lot of chakra, something he couldn't waste at the moment. His improved 'Uzumaki Barrage' was out of the question since, again, he didn't have enough chakra. Summoning the chief toad seemed to be the only option he had left.

With much hesitation, Naruto closed his eyes and focused his attention on finding the Kyuubi's chakra. It took a few seconds but he found the vile chakra and began to draw from it. The blond hated every minute of it. He hated needing the help of a demon, he hated the burning of his skin whenever he used the fox's chakra, and most of all, he couldn't stand the amount of hatred that came with the vile chakra. Even though he was still conscious of the things he did, under the influence of the fox's chakra, he would feel a large amount of hate towards anyone that looked his way. He would grow more aggressive and lust for blood.

The blond's appearance begin to change. His fangs grew in size until they stuck out of his mouth, his cheek marks darkened, and his hair became spikier. Naruto felt his hatred towards everything and everyone grow. Repressed emotions from his childhood flared and a growl escaped his mouth. Those damned fools had treated him like dirt, they should pay. He would kill them. The blond jinchuuriki opened his eyes to reveal piercing red eyes with black slits.

With the little amount of reason Naruto had, he tried to calm himself. He told himself little lies like : he had forgiven the villagers since they were only scared and had lost a lot of things to the fox. He tried convincing himself that he had grown to love the village, it was his home. All of his friends lived there and he would protect them at all costs. The people who took away some of the pain and saved him from that dark and lonely place. Naruto felt some of the hate leave and focused his attention on defeating the large demon.

Naruto bit his thumb and ran through hand signs before slamming his hands on the branch he had been standing on. "Summoning Jutsu!"

A giant cloud of smoke appeared in the middle of the forest, gaining Shukaku's attention. There was a loud sound of crashing trees before the smoke begin to disappear. Standing on the forest, facing Shukaku, was the chief toad Gamabunta with his summoner, Naruto, on its head.

"Why have you summoned me kid?"Gamabunta asked in annoyance, he had been in the middle of a meal.

Naruto pointed at Shukaku. "Are you blind?" Naruto spat out, "That's the reason I summoned you. I want that demon down!"

Gamabunta frowned, there was something off about the kid. The blond reeked of demonic chakra and the chief toad instantly knew that he was using the fox's chakra at the moment."I'll help you fight him. But the minute you stop using that chakra, I will kick your ass."

"I'll kill you all!"Shukaku yelled as he opened his mouth,"Wind Style: Air Bullets!"

Giant balls of wind came out of Shukaku's mouth, making Naruto's look like a drop in the ocean.

"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!"Gamabunta yelled as he shot out giant balls of water that countered Shukaku's,"Hang on kid!"

"To what?" Naruto yelled as the toad jumped up. Using chakra to stick to the toads head, Naruto watched as the two giants clashed.

Gamabunta grabbed Shukaku's shoulders but was easily pushed away. The toad reached for his blade and charged at the one-tailed demon. With a clean swipe the blade dug into Shukaku's skin but made no damage, it simply dug into the sand, the demon struck the chief toad on the face before Gamabunta jumped away to put some distance between the two.

"Nobody's capable of stopping me!"Shukaku cheered,"I'll destroy everything!"

Naruto growled, still under the effects of the Kyuubi's chakra. "Any ideas chief?" The blond jinchuuriki asked, "Kick his ass already!"

"I'm no match for a tailed-best, you fool!"Shukaku snapped in anger,"We have to wake up Shukaku's host."

Naruto looked at the demon and saw no sign of Gaara. "How the hell do we do that?" He asked with a frown, "I don't see that Gaara bastard anywhere!"

"The kid should be on Shukaku's forehead,"Gamabunta explained,"You have to get through the sand in order to wake him up. I'll get close to him, be ready to attack."

"Got it!" Naruto said with a firm nod.

...with Ino and Shikamaru...

Ino, Shino and Shikamaru watched the battle from a safe distance. Ino wanted to be there in case Naruto needed help while Shino and Shikamaru were too tired to go any further. Gaara was winning by the looks of things but the giant toad wasn't so far behind. Shikamaru thought that they were about even but the giant raccoon had the upper hand since the toad's blades couldn't cut through the sand.

"It's going to be a long fight," Shino said.

Shikamaru nodded. "I just hope Naruto makes it out alive," he said with a sigh, "That Gaara is way past genin level."

"Don't say things like that!" Ino snapped, "Naruto will come back safely… he promised."

"Yamanka!"

There was a yell and Tayuya,wearing a fake mask appeared suddenly.

"Ta—um.Illia-San! What is it?"

"Don't just stand around! There are sound and Sand ninja to kill!!"

"I'm sorry,I'll get on that!" She followed after Tayuya.

...Naruto...

"Get ready kid!"Gamabunta said as he charged at Shukaku. The chief toad took hold of its sides and held him in a tight grip,"Go wake him up!"

Naruto jumped off Gamabunta's head and onto Shukaku's. "Wind Style," Naruto began to run through hand seals before bringing a hand to his mouth, "Devastation!" A powerful gust of air came out of Naruto's mouth and blew part of the sand on Shukaku's head away, revealing Gaara's unconscious form. "Wake up you bastard!" The blond yelled as he raised his fist, ready to punch Gaara awake.

Shukaku's eyes widened."I won't go back in!"The one-tailed demon began to thrash about, breaking Gamabunta's hold on him,"Get the hell off!"It began to shake its head rapidly, enraged at the brat that was trying to put him back on that damned prison.

Naruto tried to hold on by using his chakra to stick to the head but found it incredibly hard. With one last shake of its head, Naruto was thrown off the Shukaku and fell towards the ground at an incredible pace. The blond saw the oncoming ground and closed his eyes, it would hurt. He felt something wrap around his waist and his fall stopped.

"I got you kid,"Gamabunta said with his tongue wrapped around Naruto.

"I'll kill you both!"Shukaku yelled. It opened its mouth and small bubbles started to form around it. There were small blue bubbles mixed with black bubbles, the small bubbles simply floated around until they began to move towards Shukaku's mouth. The bubble's began to merge and started to create a large black sphere.

The chief toad put Naruto back on its head just in time to witness the attack beginning to form. "What the hell is that?" Naruto exclaimed in anger.

Gamabunta's eyes widened, he had seen that attack before."There's only one thing to do kid. You're going to get one last shot at waking the kid. If you don't then your village is doomed."Naruto's eyes widened and he narrowed his eyes, he would stop the Shukaku for his friends. He had promised himself to protect them all on his own power, the fox wouldn't help end this fight he would make sure of it. His appearance began to turn back to normal, showing that the Kyuubi's chakra was leaving his system,"I'm going to throw you high in the air. Use the momentum to deliver your strongest attack and wake the kid."

"Don't worry chief, I'll wake him up." Naruto assured with a confident grin. Gamabunta's tongue wrapped tightly around Naruto's waist as Shukaku's attack was done charging.

Shukaku swallowed the black ball as Gamabunta threw Naruto in the air. Shukaku's stomach inflated before returning to normal. The Shukaku opened its mouth and released a powerful yellow beam that tore into the ground and obliderated trees as it made its way to the chief toad. Naruto watched the attack in awe while rocketing up the sky. He looked at the chief toad facing the powerful attack with nothing but his large sword and smiled, Gamabunta was truly brave.

As the attack approached Gamabunta, the chief toad left in a cloud of smoke to return home to safety.'What the hell?Naruto thought with an angry expression,'Why did he just leave me here?'The attack exploded into the ground in a display of raw power. Tree's were blown away and smoke filled the entire area. When the smoke cleared, there was a huge crater where Gamabunta had been standing only moments ago.

"I killed them!"Shukaku cheered, not seeing Naruto sailing through the air.

"He's distracted, now's my chance." Naruto muttered to himself. He wouldn't let the stupid demon hurt his friends or the village. He had promised to protect them and had told Ino that he would go back to the village safely. He had to win!

Naruto's momentum ended and he began to fall rapidly.'This is it!"He thought as he held his right hand to the side and began to forge wind chakra into his palm, wind gathered on his hand and a ball of wind began to form. The ball of wind chakra flashed blue for a second before turning back to its original white and grey color.

"Wind Style: Spiraling Wind Ball!" Naruto yelled as he crashed into Shukaku's head. The attack resulted on a large crater on Shukaku's head and a huge cloud of sand.

"Dammit!"Shukaku screamed in pain. Gaara's unconscious form became visible on Shukaku's head and Naruto ran at it with his right fist held back.

"Wake the hell up already!" Naruto yelled as he brought his fist to Gaara's face. His fist connected with Gaara's jaw with a loud breaking bone sound, from Gaara's jaw or his own knuckles, he didn't know.

Gaara's eyes snapped open and Shukaku's body began to break."No! Dammit!"The Shukaku yelled as it began to disappear. Soon Shukaku's whole body turned back to ordinary sand, leaving Naruto and Gaara falling helplessly to the ground since they were not able to move anymore from the strain their bodies had taken. The two landed on the unforgiving ground with loud thuds and everything grew quiet on the woods. No more sounds of battle, no more curses, no more tremors. The only thing heard was the heavy breathing of two shinobi.

Gaara was sprawled on the ground. His whole body ached and his jaw was in incredible pain. He couldn't understand how he had gotten beaten. He had experienced more pain than anyone and lived only for himself. How had he lost? What did he lack?

Naruto's muffled groan was heard. He had fallen on the ground face down, hurting most of his bones. His chakra was almost gone and his body was in pain. With the adrenaline gone, he could feel each of the wounds Gaara had inflicted on him. But he wasn't done yet. Gaara was still there and was a danger to the village, to his friends. The blond gritted his teeth and began to drag himself towards Gaara. He and the redhead were the same but Gaara had taken a turn he had avoided thanks to Iruka and all of his friends.

Gaara's eyes widened when he saw Naruto moving towards him. The redhead's body wouldn't move, he was vulnerable, Naruto would kill him. "No," Gaara said in fear, "I won't have my existence erased! Get away! Stop!" The blond didn't stop and continued to move towards Gaara, causing him to scream in fear.

Naruto stopped dragging himself towards Gaara, making the redhead stop screaming and look at him in fear of being killed. Naruto understood why Gaara didn't want to die. All Gaara had was himself, his life was all he cherished. Just like Naruto had. "It's almost unbearable… isn't it?"

Gaara gave Naruto a confused expression. The blond slowly lifted his face to meet Gaara's gaze. The redhead looked into Naruto's eyes and his eyes widened slightly. Those eyes, were just like his own, full of loneliness.

"I know what it's like…" Naruto began, "Having everyone look at you in fear. Being ignored by everyone and avoided like the plague. I have a demon inside of me too." Gaara's eyes widened, someone else knew of his pain, "There was a time when I felt just like you… I hated everyone. I wanted them all to feel my pain, wanted to make them suffer for acting like I didn't exist… like my life didn't even matter."

"Then i gave myself a goal,I would grow stronger and change the world,i'd make the people realise they were wrong!"

A few tears escaped Naruto's eyes and he gave a small smile.It didn't seem like the villagers thought about any different thoug.

"But then, I met Iruka-sensei. He was the first person other than Kiba and Ino to acknowledge me. At that point I thought that there was hope… maybe I could be acknowledged by more people." Gaara listened to every word, wondering if he too could be acknowledged, "As time passed, I met more people that looked at me as a friend… someone important to them." Naruto smiled thinking of his friends, the people he would give his life to protect, "I grew to cherish those bonds and nothing will ever break them, even if they are damaged. That's why I'll give my life to protect them! Kiba and Ino took me out of that dark and lonely place, they are my saviors."

Naruto's gaze turned to one of anger and he began to try to stand up. He used his left hand to support himself before doing the same with his right. It was hard and painful but he managed to get into a crawling position. "If you ever try to hurt them…" He glared at Gaara, "I'll slaughter you!"

Gaara turned his gaze to the sky, reflecting on his life.'Love is what made him strong,'he thought,'Maybe I can form bonds also. I still don't understand completely but I will try.'The redhead turned back to Naruto and gave him a nod, "I don't want to fight anymore. I won't hurt your friends."

Naruto smiled weakly. "I understand why you acted like you did." The blond gave Gaara a grin, "I won't hold it against you. Maybe we could become friends in the future, Gaara."

Gaara managed a small grin. "I'd like that," he said weakly, "Naruto Uzumaki."

The blond smiled before he laid down on the ground and closed his eyes, the effects of the fight finally too much for him. He slipped into blissful unconsciousness with inner peace, he had succeeded on protecting his friends.

Tayuya arrived to a weird scene. Naruto was sleeping on the ground with Gaara gazing at the sky only a few feet away. She expected to arrive to see the two trying to kill each other but, to be honest, she was glad they were done. It meant she was probably done fighting for the day. She would fight for her new friends any day but it was always good to lay back and relax.

"I take it you beat Naruto?" Tayuya asked the redhead.

Gaara shook his head with his gaze never leaving the sky. "I was defeated by Naruto." He admitted, "His merely resting, a luxury which I do not have."

She had assumed that Naruto had calmed Gaara down after losing but he had actually defeated a chunin level ninja, .

"I take it Naruto told you of his burden." Gaara turned his gaze to Tayuya and nodded.

"I hope I'll be able to follow in Naruto's example," Gaara said with a small nod.

With a shrug Tayuya created a shadow clone and had him pick up the two jinchuurikis. They would need some medical attention but then again, many ninja did. It would probably be a while before they were discharged.

...Ino's fatal encounter...

"You two go ahead,I'll take care of Tayuya's little friend here!" Kidomaru smirked,he would finally get revenge on the bitch.

"Hurry up,Orochimaru will need us,"

Ino felt a feeling of dread wash over her as she caught sight of the ninjas forehead protector; the musical note was a sickening sight, not helped the mocking, triumphant smirk on the weirdo's face. Sound, as in Orochimaru. She was expecting to run into the sound four,or now the sound three here at all.

What on earth was she supposed to do?!

Gritting her teeth, she pulled out one kunai from her holster, and flung it towards the sneering man. He dodged easily, flinging her friend to the earth to allow a proper battle. He lunged towards her, and she dodged just as easily .

A long hard needle shot from his mouth and she quickly swerved out of the way. She did not like the odds that that was a one-throw shot at all, and considered all her options. The man had left a kind of sticky gungy substance on her leg as she dodged him the first time, and avoiding that was probably in her best interests until she could figure out what it did.

Mind transfer was completely out of the question right now; she couldn't hold anyone off for any lengthy period of time with it just yet and it would leave her vulnerable to his companions should they decide to come back. The mind-body disturbance… it took up half her chakra in a single shot.

Ino cursed her lack of variety; she could use a shadow clone a few times, but other than that, some pretty lame illusions, she had no chakra for jutsu ,and her fists she had nothing! Damn it, why couldn't she have some kick-ass techniques like Tayuya or even her team-mates?!

If anything Ino was physically strong,she knew that much,so she would make do with her brute strenght.

Ino gave the six-armed man a shit-eating grin ash she lunged towards him.

Ino balled her fists as she lunged at the spider-like ninja.

Not as good as she wanted ,However, that was to be expected. It was good enough to create a small crater though, despite the burning skin on her knuckles; the impact on the earth had not fared well on her fist. She had seen worse injuries on her friends though, and was by no means going to allow them to steal all the thunder.

The man hurled spiked yellowish needles towards her, and she winced as one tore lightly into her side as she attempted to dodge, he had fast accurate throws - disgustingly better than her own. Ino desperately wanted to scramble the mans mind to jelly,

More blows were exchanged, and she managed to cause something to crack in the man's shoulder (with one well-aimed kick) as she dodged the globs of sticky gunk almost completely (some spots still found their way onto her clothing and her short pale-straw coloured locks). This rendered on of the man's arms useless, but he was still left with five others.

'If I disable all his arms, he won't have anything to make those weird spikes with…'she thought to herself, panting slightly. Her knuckles were in tatters from the impact on the rocky ground, but that wasn't quite yet a problem.

She lunged again, ducking to avoid a spray of sticky web from the man - there had not been many, but it made finding her balance difficult. It seemed to be made of the same stuff as the gunk on her clothing, and she didn't dare think what would happen if she landed on one of the nets. Her fist bloodied connected with the creeps' shoulder, and she heard a crack. He hissed loudly, and after backing up in could see another arm dangling uselessly.

'Yahey!'she cheered to herself silently, breath coming less easily after her last punch. She charged again, twisting her leg to crash it into the side of his head. He smirked, grabbed her leg in a deathlike grip with one of his supposedly useless hand. She felt the gummy substance emitting from his skin piercing her lower calf - thin needles sinking down into the bone of her leg and ankle as she was flung backwards.

Desperate ,she dug around inside the donkey pocket of her shirt, pulling a vial of a thin, watery - with an oily sheen - pale red liquid. She broke the seal on the cork with a swipe of her thumb, and quickly swallowed the liquid.

It was something of her own creation, with aid from her medical neurology books, After strenuous research she and Shikamaru had finally come up with a formula similar to the Akimichi Triple Threat pellets; greater power for a limited time, but with side effects.

For the moment, she referred to it as a Brain Juice Boost; increasing brain activity and forcibly creating substitute physical energy by increasing the mental energy to form pure chakra. She was still working on the mix, but even at its current level it had its side effects; once it eventually wore off, she would be trapped in a coma for days, possibly months from the neural and psychological damage.

Kiba had been the insistent guinea pig, she was nowhere close to understanding the first stage of the boost juice but it would have to do. Feeling her strength flowing back, her injury's dimming in intensity, she pulled herself back to her feet and charged at the tarantula man .

He dodged her, twisting gracefully on the palm of his foot before darting in the direction of the border. He was faster than she was, but she could tell from his body movement he was in pain, maybe from an old injury. In a battle of stamina, she wasn't going to go down for two days without some serious chakra expulsion.

She'd run him to the ground. If she caught up to him before that though… There was a forbidden technique of her fathers she had been forced to swear would never be used on someone undeserving. She was itching to try it out, and in her book, the white-haired freak more than met the requirements

.She wasted no time in accosting her blockage, clenching her fist in anger, almost crushing the kunai they held, and aiming for his temples. He turned on the ball of his feet, as he dodged around her. She whirled and brought the two kunai up in a cross shape to block the sticky needle that had been aimed at her back.

. She didn't like her chances of blocking that gunk for long; she needed a technique that would mess it up…

'Ah! That one! It's perfect!'she crowed silently.

She forced her middle index fingers along the edge of the kunai handles, crossing them. A low mutter of 'Shadow Clone Technique' created an exact replica of herself behind him. Before he could whirl to dodge the clone, Ino dropped her kunai, and grasped her arms and fists onto his wrists.

"Neural Technique; Polarity Inversion Style!" the clone hissed, an upside-down triangular hand seal aimed at the back of his head, before poofing from existence with chakra use.

Ino smirked at the sound ninja, feeling smugly victorious. The man was twitching involuntarily, obviously trying to figure out what she had done to him. Ino was not stupid enough to let him know what she had done; let him figure it out himself. It was one of her father's favourite techniques, and unlike many of her family techniques, it did not take up god-awful amounts of chakra when cast. Simply put, it reversed and flipped the mechanics of motor neurons in the brain, neurons responsible for movement of bones and muscle;he was practically paralyzed!

Even a ninja of his obvious experience would take a while to get around an impediment like that, and if he tried to do too much with his nifty bone work, he could end up spearing himself with his own ribs. It gave her plenty of time to dispose of him before moving on. She clenched her fists once more,

She had to finish him off in one shot; if she didn't, it would be too long a delay. She brought her fist up to his twitching face with a roar, and instantly felt his own spike piercing her skin and the calcium substance in her hand. His hand shot forwards, flat as if using the Hyuuga Jyuuken, and a long point shot from his palm through the right of her lover abdomen.

Ino grunted at the impact, but didn't create a large fuss. She was too surprised by the action to care about the gaping hole in her side; how had it missed him? And how did he even know about the Polarity inversion style? That was a closely guarded section of Yamanaka techniques! Only the head family and the clan elders had access to them!

Orochimaru sharing things was one matter, but knowing about those techniques was quite another!

Knees growing weak,she fell hearing her head slam against the floor.

Kidomaru walked away to meet his team.

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	17. Chapter Seventeen

He heard the explosion,loud ,messy and the direction it came from was obvious .

He felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen. Tension grew in his face and limbs, his mind replaying the last attack. His breathing became more rapid, more shallow. In these moments before his personal hurricane, he understood the drug addicts, the alcoholics... anything to stop the primal surge to flee. Akamaru sped up ahead of him,in his head he chanted a prayer-no,he chanted a plea. He begged any god that would listen,any god that could hear;please,please!let the orphanage be okay.

Kiba is running about the village like there's a hurricane inside him. he's moving like his brain is demanding the energetic expenditure of an athlete but won't tell his limbs what to do. His eyes are wildas he sees the house,the orphanage,the home of over a dozen kids;its become no more.

Kiba's eyes scanned the area,spotting tiny,limbs and small heads sticking out from the rubble,red with blood,and brown with dirt.

An invisible hand clasps over his mouth; an equally ghostly hypodermic of adrenaline pierces his heart, unloading in an instant. He feels his ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate his lungs. Kiba's head is a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing his mind into blackness. He wants to run; I need to freeze,he thought. Sounds that were near felt far away, like he was no longer in his body.

He pushed the boards out of the way,desperate to know if anyone was alive.

He found Miss Bovine, her skull cracked open and her old body nearly in pieces.

In what used to be the living room,he found little Eiji,crushed by the book shelf,blood running from his mouth.

The stillness of the villa sent shivers down his spine. The mirthful garden, where once young children played joyously with Ino Yamanaka, where the flowers bloomed under the sun rays, is now just a blood covered solitary path. There is blood dripping from the roof somehow, rhythmically, generating a melancholic melody. The door hinges are all rusted and the glass windows are all shattered, shattered like the dreams of over a dozen children. A dozen children whose voices rung in Kiba's ears,giggles and shouting of dreams and goals,he heard all so clearly.

With a sickening certainty he knew,this,this would be moment he remembered as when he finally gave up on Konoha.

Naruto woke with a groan,his eyelids heavy and his vision blurry as he tried to sit up, the chemical scent of medicine and the white sheets let him know he was in a hospital.A dangerous place for a jinchuuriki.

"Damn Urchin head,does your body not know what rest is,you havent even been out for 15 minutes,"

The blonde was suddenly aware of Tayuya sitting in a chair next to his bed.

he jumped in shock, "the invasion!is it...?"

She nodded. "was over the minute you defeated gaara,"

He rubbed at his aching head."how long was i out?"

"Like I Said,fifteen minutes,"

"Everyone must be cleaning up now,"

"Ye-!"

The two were interrupted by kiba,screaming frantically.

"N-Naruto!Tayuya!! It's Ino!!you have to come quick!!!!"

Naruto had never moved so fast in his life despite being injured,they ran through the halls of the hospital,knocking side characters out of the way and almost tripping on the marble floor.

Naruto skidded to a halt at Ino's room door,a doctor blocking his way.

"Where is she???!"

"Sir ,they brought her in a while ago,she's lost a lot of blood"

"Is she alive??!"

"Yes,but you must understand,she's sustained serious brain damage,"

"Can I see her please,?!" He cried

"We're doing everything we can but she doesn't have good chances,"

The blonde rushed to Ino's bedside.

She smiled,pale and covered in blood as he held her hand.

"Ino.."

"Naruto...I tried , I really gave it my best..."

"I know,I know,"he whimpered.

"I wanted,to show you that I was strong too,"

"I know,save your strenght and stay alive!"

"Ino!!"

Kiba entered the room,for the first time he wasn't faster than Naruto.

He ran to her bedside.

"Is she breathing? Is she going to survive this!?"

Tayuya came after,"who did this? Kiba do you know!!?"

"Stop being such worry warts guys..." Ino smiled weakly and she coughed up blood.

"Kiba,"she called

"Y-yeah?"

"Later,can you make sure the orphans are okay,and find the piano piece I played that one time,I want to play it for them once I get out of here okay,"

The brunette couldn't bare to tell her when she was already in such a state,so he wimpered and nodded."sure,"

"Tayuya...are you there?"

The redhead couldn't answer.

"I was really excited to meet you y'know.I was glad not to be the only girl in the group anymore and I knew you'd be strong, so I tried to be strong too,I hope..." her voice stalled for a moment, "I hope i didn't disappoint you."

"Anyway...Naruto,

I'm a little tired...so, I'll just close my eyes for a sec okay?after I promise we'll all eat ramen together..."

She trailed off,her eyes closed shut and her hand went limp in Naruto's

Tayuya buried her face in her lap and let out an agonizing wail.

"My DAUGHTER??! WHERE IS SHE?"

Inoichi Yamanaka stormed into the room,face decorated with worry.

"What's wrong with her? Why won't she wake up doctor!?"

"She's in a coma,it won't be long before she passes"

"What happened?"

"Severe brain damage and an infected wound to her side,"

The doctor hung his head.

"There's no one in the village that can help her,"

Inoichi turned,noticing the three other ninja,specifcally Naruto and growled.

"WHY IS HE HERE?"

"SIR I -"

"WHY WOULD YOU LET HIM IN MY DAUGHTERS ROOM!!"

"GET OUT! STAY AWAY FROM HER!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"

The third sat at his chair pipe in hand as he stared at Jiraiya.

"I'm thinking of stepping down,"

"From hokage?"

"Yes," the Sandaime was ashamed at his failure to protect his village,but in any other universe things might've turned out the same. He would not have listened to Naruto and everything would play out all over again.

Jiraiya shrugged."good for you then i guess,"

"I was hoping you would take over for me,"

Jiraiya was shocked but did not show it.

"Sorry old man, though i think i know who can do it,"

"You can't possibly mean her?"

"Of course its her,who else would it be."

As Jiraiya walked through the village he suddenly spotted Naruto,the blonde seemed to be waiting for him somehow.

"I'm coming with you to find Tsunade,"

The toad sage smirked,"I knew you were listening,you cheeky bastard."

"I'm serious, one of my friends are seriously injured, the doctor said she only has a few days,"

"And if Tsunade refuses me?"

Naruto glared darkly. "Then I'll drag her back,"

Never let it be said that Naruto Uzumaki was a normal person. The boy who everyone thought of as a failure, annoyance or just as that loud kid from Konoha, was in fact anything but normal.

First of all when he was born he there had been the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune on Konoha , which led to Naruto becoming its jailor, the death of Narutos parents and practically the end of any chance for the boy to be normal.

Despite the wishes of the fourth Hokage Naruto was never seen as the jailor, hero or even boy that he was. Instead people saw a monster in disguise, mocking them, a threat to the village or a reminder of their pain. Because of that they treated the boy like he was the dirt under their shoes,tried to kill him, ignored him and in fact abused him in a way that no one but a fellow demon vessel could ever hope to understand.

He became a child in dire need of attention, who only got neglect and hate, but from a few times when a soul took pity on him,like say,Ino and Kiba. Those occasions where he felt kindness directed towards him, few as they were, could be described as the sole reason of him not becoming the monster he was painted as by people.

Still the abuse he suffered changed him. He learned fast that crying had little to no use. He learned that people didn't deserve his trust, that he wasn't like the other kids and most importantly he learned one thing: Konoha was not to be trusted. He had no worth to anyone but himself. After all that was what people told or proved him most of the time

And as any kid his young age his defiance to accept anything like that made him act out to prove people wrong. He became a prankster, a clown a loudmouthed brat, a kind soul to people who needed it, anything to get a reaction. But never did he get the reaction he craved so very very much. Acceptance.

So he tried to find his place in a world that told him he had no place. He put on a mask that at least somewhat justified the behavior people had towards him, so he hadn't had to think about why people acted the way he did. The stupid idiot who gave everybody a hard time.

Next he decided what to dedicate his life to and searched for a goal to reach. Just to spite the people who looked down on him he chose to become a hero and every time he people talked him down he told them his goal: to become Hokage.

But all that didn't mean that he always gave his best, or that he never gave up. When he noticed that the academy didn't not really want to teach him, or taught him wrong he gave up on them. He just stopped trying for the longest time losing himself in his mask.

That was the time Iruka became his teacher and just by chance the older male showed Naruto that there were people who liked him, even if he wore his mask. And not just because he was their costumer or pupil. Iruka also accepted him after knowing the secret everybody hated Naruto for .

With just that he gave the boy a new if still small sense of self-worth that gave the boy energy. Then he died, and the reason for his death was hidden,he didn't die with honor,he just died.

Now after finding out an evil organization is hunting down tailed beast and seeing one of your teammates be tortured by his own brother and even before that, having the one girl whose always been with you be lying half dead in hospital,Naruto was absolutely sure.

He was absolutely sure that his goal up until now had been wrong;I wanna be Hokage!

He yelled that so many times but he only just realized that the Hokage was only responsible for his one village,he couldn't go out and change the world when he was sitting behind paper work deciding a set of rules for HIS ninja to follow,devising plans on how to make sure Konoha the best. Showing off all it's great clans and amazingly diverse power system.

The hokage couldn't be bothered to ACTUALLY make sure that HIS academy made good and capable ninja.

Make sure your ninja are skilled before sending out to battle? No way...! We have the NINE TAILS JINCHUURIKI! Everything will be fine,He's the perfect military weapon,just as every other jinchuuriki is.

Should you Allow your ninjas vacations? Could you at least let them leave the village in their day offs?

Hah!No way,Letting them look at the same type of grass and buildings everyday totally provides great mental stability!

Honestly,Naruto understood that Tsunade must've been through some pretty traumatic experiences,she must had a past riddled with pain but,he always believed, that having a terrible past didn't give you an excuse to be an asshole.

He grunted getting up from crack in the earth that Tsunade had created.

"How about I make you a deal old lady..." He spat blood from his mouth.

She growled, "I told you not to call me That!!! And you Are in No position to make deals with me!!!!!!"

" I don't give a flying flip if you become Hokage but , if I perfect the Rasengan in three days time, you have to come back and heal Ino and that Bastard Sasuke too!!!!"

She was intrigued, She was a gambler after all so it was to be expected.

"Okay,if you do that then I'll heal your friend and I'll give this to you,"

She pointed at a strange necklace on her neck.

"Hmph! Why would I want that stupid thing !?"

" actually ,Naruto, " Jiraiya spoke up, "that necklace is worth millions,"

" Also, " Tsunade gestured to his headband, "you might wanna change that thing."

" my headband? Why? "

"It's scratched across the leaf symbol, that's how people usually identify Rogue ninjas,"

Naruto ran a hand across the scratch,his headband had originally belonged to Iruka-Sensei,it had been scratched in a fight with Mizuki-teme.

The sight of the scratch was funny somehow,in an ironic sort of way.

The explosion had destroyed everything. The orphans had been dug out of the rubble, lifeless and grey. Their bodies were lined up in size order like grotesque Russian dolls. She could smell them rotting in the sun and the taste of vomit was never far from her parched mouth. She gazed around the wreckage with eyes barely more alive than the children and could feel no life within herself. How could she still be breathing when she felt like this?

She chuckled darkly , how could have ever thought about staying here?

This place was despicable,an over hyped Ego factory,it's leaders were nothing more than porn reading ,drunken barbarians,the genin teams were as coordinated as an octopus wearing stilts.

She couldn't stay here,she had leave,if she didn't things would be no better than working for Orochimaru,she would be a slave,not even allowed to leave the village.

Before that happens , she needs to leave,she needs to leave and quick.

"Hey,Tayuya,"

It was Kiba,he had spent all day in the hospital with Ino,so Tayuya didn't know why he would be here right now.

His eyes were filled with a kindness that seemed so innocent and geniuine so endless: as big as the sea. It set her aright and made her happy. His hands lapsed with hers, holding them for a second and squeezing kindly. he patted her on the back.

Looking out at the rubble he sighed.

"I get how you must be feeling,"

" You do? "

"There must be someplace better than here for you,I'll take you there."

"W-why isn't she waking up?" Naruto stuttered.

Ino's skin regained its color and her heart rate stables but she had yet to wake up or even stir.

"Whatever chemical she ingested has done her great brain damage,any longer and her neurons could've been eaten away,add that to the infected hole in her side and I'm surprised she's not dead."

Tayuya spoke,"you fixed it though right?"

"Of course I did," Tsunade answered, "but she needs some time before she can wake up,"

The woman turned towards Naruto, "don't you have a teammate you should visit?"

The sun was setting as Sakura made her way to the hospital. She was a little slow on her step, having trained the whole day, with her face carrying an expression of exhaustion. Today's training had been a little more than demanding. Her two clones,which was all she could make, as usual, had spent the day training on the taijutsu, with another reading the book on sealing, while she and Anko sparred. Only this time she had her go through several exercises that would increase her speed.

'You might be a Chuunin level but I've seen old hags move faster than you!'

Those had been Anko's words before she made her run through the exercises. The first one had been simple, she only had to enter the river and walk against the current. It had been the second exercise where things had gotten more complicated. She was to do the same thing, only this time she needed to dodge rocks thrown by Anko. But nothing could prepare her for the final exercise of the day.

Anko had summoned a rather large snake. Sakura still remembered the sadistic grin Anko sported as she explained the exercise.

'Keep the snake from eating you for a total of ten minutes!'

She shuddered, horrible snake-related memories flooding her mind. She had barely escaped the damned snake but it had only been due to using a variety of jutsu. Those snakes were tough and wouldn't go down with anything but at least she had managed to live through today's 'training.'

She sighed, shoulders slumping slightly, she was tired. This wouldn't be a bad thing if it was regular training but with Anko, being tired could cost her her life. The crazy kunoichi was bound to kill her one day, she was sure.

She stood just out Sasuke's room door,wondering if she should go in.

At the moment Naruto would love some ramen,his most favourite places to get ramen would be at Ichiraku or at Miss Bovines Home For The Aimless, unfortunately they were both victims of an explosion,Ayame and teuchi's bodies were barely recognizable and ramen stand was reduced to piles of wood.

He would do anything to not pay attention to his surroundings right now,even if it meant looking at Sasuke Uchiha.

He spotted Sakura,just outside Sasuke's room.

"Sakura,should we go in together,"

She nodded.

Sakura didn't say a word as they entered the room. As soon as they entered they were the subjects of a hardened glare from the last Uchiha before his eye settled on Naruto. The blonde shinobi watched as Sakura went to sit next to the Uchiha with a nervous smile. The uneasiness was expected since neither of the boys had moved since they saw each other, they were in a kind of staring contest.

"S-Sasuke," Sakura muttered, bringing the plate of apple slices closer to the Uchiha, "I brought you something to eat."

Sasuke kept his gaze on Naruto, his teeth grinding together in a show of anger. "Fight me," he ordered. The genin simply frowned, further angering the Uchiha, "I told you to fight me. Right now."

"No," Naruto responded.

"Just calm down, we're in a hospital," Sakura broke in, her suggestion apparently falling on deaf ears.

"Are you scared Naruto?" Sasuke smirked, "Could it be that you know for a fact that you can't beat me?"

Naruto turned on his heel and headed for the door.

"I don't care about anything you have to say Sasuke,"

The Uchiha watched his rival open the door. He couldn't just let him leave without settling the score. He needed to know the difference between their power!!

"H-here Sasuke," Sakura offered the plate of food with an uncertain look. Sasuke turned to the pink-haired kunoichi with a heated glare, knocking the plate of food away with his left hand.

Naruto turned at the sound of shattering glass, seeing Sakura look at Sasuke in shock and perhaps some anger.

"What the hell are you doing?" he glared, his blue eyes filled with anger, "Sakura's our teammate, you can't treat her like that!"

"Then fight me," Sasuke countered, inwardly smirking at the way Naruto's fists shook. He had known Naruto for some time and knew that the way to get him riled up was to threaten his friends. Threatening others wasn't what he would usually do but he had no choice. He needed to make sure that he was still stronger than Naruto.

"Let's just leave, Naruto," Sakura decided, taking a few steps forward before being stopped by a hand wrapping tightly around her wrist. She turned to see Sasuke holding her wrist while glaring at Naruto,

"Let me go Sasuke." She said calmly.

Sasuke kept his gaze on Naruto. "If you don't fight me then-"

The Uchiha was cut off by a fist colliding with his face, the cheer force behind the strike throwing him against the room's wall. He glared at the aggressor, Sakura standing in front of him with a look of fury he had never seen on her before.

"I . am so TIRED of the two you," she said tensely her fist clenching.

"Let's all just forget about this,so our team can function and when we make it to chuunin we can all go our separate ways,"

Meanwhile Sasuke was seething.

How? How had he sunken so low that he could be hit by Sakura? Sakura Haruno!?

He launched at her but Naruto saw,running and knocking Sasuke aside.

They both rolled about on the floor , trying to get the advantage. Naruto was on top when he suddenly felt himself being lifted off of Sasuke.

Sakura had held him by the collar and flung him to otherside of the room.

"This is a hospital!! Stop Fighting!!"

"Why are you still on his side!?" Naruto yelled.

"I literally just punched him!!"

"Stay out of this Sakura,this is between me and Naruto!!!"

"Shut up! You need to calm down!"

Sasuke swiped at her foot and Anko would be disappointed in how easily she fell.

Naruto and Sasuke went at it again, this time Sakura joined in.

The three former friends rolled around the floor punching ,kicking and pulling at each other.

When Kakashi arrived on the scene,the very sight of his little genin trying to kill each other gave Kakashi an ironic feeling of failure.

He hadn't changed anything,he'd failed just like his sensei.

I dont own Naruto.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

It was Kiba that told Tayuya about the news. He came storming into Ino's hospital room where Tayuya was .

"Tayuya!! It's Sasuke he left the village!!"

" What?! "

"Sakura said she saw him leave last night with the sound four, he knocked her out !"

" what's the village doing about!? " she said standing from her chair in shock.

"There sending Naruto and the remaining Konoha nine to retrieve him, I need to know if your coming,"

" are they Crazy!! " she yelled, "THEY'RE SENDING A BUNCH A GENIN AND ONE CHUUNIN !! TO DEAL WITH JOUNIN LEVEL NINJA!? THEY'RE DOING THIS AGAIN!!?" she screamed.

" I don't get it either but we—! "

"NO," Tayuya said , softly cutting him off, "this village doesn't care about anyone, I'm not going to fight for it."

Kiba nodded understanding her, "I get it but I need to go help Naruto...so..." He let the sentence hang.

" So...? " Tayuya questioned.

"So wait for me, I'll keep my promise to you and take you somewhere better than here."

\--

Naruto ran his hand through his hair three times in quick succession and fixed Sasuke in a stare that could have frozen the water below them. He snarled more than spoke.

"Sasuke! Get Back To Konoha,Now ."

"I could say the same about you, why are you here?"

" It's obvious, to take you back, there's no way I'm letting you go to Orochimaru, "

Sasuke smirked, "I'm tired of playing around in the leaf village, Go Home Naruto. "

Knuckles white from clenching his fist too hard, and teeth gritted from effort to remain calm , his still form exuded an animosity that was like acid - burning, slicing, potent. His face was red with suppressed rage, he swung and mentally snapped.

Straddling Sasuke and hitting with a left and right hook, somehow things felt different from when they fought before, Sasuke had a strange menacing confidence to him,unlike his insecure attempts at the hospital with Sakura,Now it seemed like Sasuke was sure he could take Naruto,or maybe,that he didn't have to.

Sasuke smirked and spit blood at Naruto before shoving his leg to Naruto's stomach.

The blonde free fell from the statue , Sasuke falling above him with his hands poised for a signature jutsu.

"Fire Style : Dragon Ball Jutsu!"

——_——

Neji had decided to go after Kidomaru,leaving Shikamaru and Kiba to deal with Sakon.

Kiba was angry, not thinking straight at all, he rushed at Sakon,his claws extended aiming for Sakon's throat, it grazed him slightly before Sakon jumped away.

He held his throat with a smirk, the Inuzuka boy fought differently from the other leaf genin,before he could tell all of them wanted to avoid killing , they were trying to apprehend or seriously maime at best, but the Inuzuka seemed to be going straight for the kill,he was rash and sloppy. That would be his downfall.

Kiba rushed at him again,his leg raised to deliver an axe kick to Sakon only for the sound Ninja to push it out of the way and back away.

Kiba,tired of missing ,fused with Akamaru .

"Fang over Fang!"

The dog and his boy twisted like tornados and crashed into Sakon,this time they didn't miss.

When the dust cleared Kiba was breathing heavily and Shikamaru approached him.

"Maybe next time don't rush in without a plan," he said irritated .

"I had a plan, don't stop till he's dead,"

" Oh,is that what you think? We're dead? " a laugh came from the direction of the dust and Shikamaru cringed at the sight.

"They...They multiplied!?"

" allow me to introduce my brother Ukon, " he smiled sadistically.

Kiba growled in anger,disregarding Shikamaru as he and Akamaru attacked them from the sides.

Kiba was sure they'd grind them to a pulp with this but Sakon grabbed Akamaru while Ukon grabbed Kiba.

They pushed against each other for a while before Ukon kicked Kiba in the Stomach.

"Face it kid you're way over your head with this one, Go . Home."

Kiba growled and got ready to go again when Shikamaru held him back.

"We NEED a Plan!"

" Fine! I'm listening. "

"I need you and Akamaru to distract him while I try to shadow possess one of them," he whispered.

" and what about the other one? "

"One step at time. For now keep them separated!" He said sharply.

Kiba charged at Sakon, While Akamaru who was transformed as Kiba went after Ukon.

Kiba engaged in taijutsu with Sakon ,he wasn't that good at taijutsu but training with Ino who pretty good at it kept him on his toes.

Kiba kicked at him ,his leg merely grazing Sakon's chin before sending him a hard punch which connected with Sakon's cheek sending Sakon flying backwards.

———--—————

Back to Naruto

The boys traded blows as they fell down from mid-air, but the Uchiha got the advantage of knocking Naruto into several metres of water below . The Uzumaki became disoriented ,water from that high was like hitting concrete. Sasuke saw his opportunity. He ran over and started to pummel the boy from the outside.

"We were never friends! Barely teammates! So why are you getting in my way?!!" Sasuke yelled as he readied another punch.

Suddenly, he heard, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly, multiple forms of Naruto flew out of the blankets and kicked Sasuke back, causing the Uchiha to roll across the water surface. As he got to his feet, he was surrounded by a crowd of Naruto's shadow clones. He watched as several of them at a time charged at him.

Sasuke took out clone after clone with his taijutsu. Suddenly, he gasped as multiple clones suddenly rushed him from all angles.

"NA-RU-TO!"

Sasuke grunted as all Naruto clones kicked him into the air. He widened his eyes to see the real Naruto and a clone come down, attempting to kick him towards the rooftop.

"UZUMAKI BARRAGE!"

Sasuke growled as he grabbed the ankles of both and flung them to the ground. The clone smashed into the solid surface, poofing into smoke as several clones caught the real Naruto. As they all looked up, they saw Sasuke with a handsign and inhaling.

"Fire-style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled as he blew out a huge flame.

They all watched as the flames came towards them, almost to tired to move. The worst part was that Sasuke's words were getting to Naruto.

Why did he care if Sasuke left? Didn't he agree with himself that if people didn't care about him he wouldn't care either?

'aren't I also a hypocrite?' He thought.

Just a few days ago he was giving up on the leaf Village,so...what changed.

The flame quenched its thirst as all the clones had exploded into smoke, causing a huge smokescreen, blinding Sasuke. he coughed and gagged as the black smoke blinded him. The Uchiha waved all of nearby smoke out of the way as he looked around with blinded eyes. He regretted using the fire jutsu on someone like Naruto,you could never really tell when he was dead. He tried to find Naruto. Soon enough, he saw the only Naruto burned to a crisp but alive. His skin and clothing were all burned and singed badly . Sasuke didn't buy a second of it.

Suddenly, Naruto poofed into smoke, As he expected! It was a clone. Sasuke suddenly heard footsteps running towards him from behind. He turned around to see Naruto charging at him with a weird ball of chakra in his hand.

"SAAAASSSUUKEEEEEEE!" Naruto roared as he came closer.

Sasuke saw nothing more than pure rage in Naruto's eyes. The desire to kill, the want to cause others pain; the same look he had. He gritted his teeth as he tried to evade, but the blond-haired ninja was too quick this time and began to strike him with the new attack.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted.

He had his answer. The answer was that he was being stupid, he didn't care about the leaf village,just like the village didn't care about him.

No one is TAKING Sasuke away from the village Sasuke is LEAVING , of his own free will. He was by law a rogue ninja,he should die,so...why was the village trying to keep him?

Naruto's rasengan dissolved just before Sasuke's face and the Uchiha stared in shock,his menacing confidence gone.

There was something in Naruto's eyes,way worst than his own. It was scary.

"Tell me Sasuke..." Naruto heaved in front of him, " why are you leaving,is killing your brother really that important to you? "

Sasuke jumped away from Naruto just to be safe.

"Short answer , Yes. It is,"

" Why? "

"Why are asking all these questions,aren't you trying to drag me back?"

" I'm trying to understand you,that's all I've ever wanted to do Sasuke ,Understand. " Naruto's voice tired,his shoulders dragging like he's given up.

"Honestly I think it would have led to this anyway,vengeance or not," Sasuke shrugged, "have you seen that village! The new Hokage sent literal genin to deal with jounin ninja knowing they're all affiliated with Orochimaru! "

"They're were no available Jounin," Naruto countered weakly.

" what an excuse! Kakashi knows over a thousand Justus and in the year that we've been under him,how much has he taught us?"

Naruto blinked.

"Lets not forget privileges of big clans compared to civilian clans."

" What? " the last thing Naruto expected Sasuke to call himself was privileged.

"Kids with special kekkie genkei get special treatment,more attention from teachers and senseis', we can do no wrong," Sasuke smirked.

"That's not true!"

" it isn't? Is that why they want you apprehend and not kill me a literal rogue ninja where law states you must kill on sight"

He laughed, "I could kill everyone of those genin and they'd still let me off the hook with a slap on the risk!"

" you know why! " Sasuke yelled, "because they'd do anything to be able to stay on top of other villages,make sure they know that Konoha has five of the most powerful clans in their ranks plus a jinchuuriki,"

Naruto froze, how did Sasuke know about that.

"You think I wouldn't realize? All those strange displays of power and ominous chakra? I'm not stupid Naruto!"

There was tense silence between before Naruto rubbed his nose and laughed,Sasuke's right!

"You should leave. Kakashi is on his way,"

" What? "

"I won't chase after you Sasuke, I don't care what you do from here,so leave."

" you won't follow me? "

"No,"

Sasuke cautiously turned to leave when Naruto called back after him.

"Hey! Just because I'm not following you doesn't mean we won't meet again,"

" is that so Naruto? "

"It is and if it happens to be in bad terms and you get in my way...then, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Sasuke smirked, "well I've said this before; you can try."

And with that he was gone .

—————--—————

Back to Kiba

Ukon kicked Akamaru away from him sending the dog flying back.

"Sakon! Get over here their plan is to separate us !!"

The brother's eyes widened in realization and he glared at Kiba.

He took the offensive against Kiba, causing the boy to dodge and retreat.

The brothers joined back together,Ukon merely becoming a head on Sakon's shoulder.

"Th-they conjoined!?" Kiba cringed.

" That's better for us,it's easier to possess them if they have one body, " Shikamaru whispered.

The brothers bit their thumb and slammed it to the floor.

"Summoning Jutsu! Rashamon! "

A large iron guard door with a strange face appeared.

Shikamaru looked towards Kiba, "can you destroy it?"

" who cares if I can!? I will! "

He and Akamaru jumped and twisted their bodies into tornadoes.

"Fang Over Fang!!"

They crashed into the summons causing it to dent before poofing away in smoke.

The brothers seemed shocked that Kiba managed this.

Kiba heaved heavily,not he used his ultimate he would definitely be able to kill one of them.

The only problem is that he would not have anymore chakra as he was already low, this one move could make or break him!

"I'll never give up!cuz that's my nindo,my ninja way!"

That was definitely Naruto's voice ,Kiba didn't know why,but he always heard Naruto's voice in his times of need, Naruto wouldn't give up, even if his life's on the line,he always does what's right!

It was an amazing feeling, when kiba knew his life was less important and his courage was in need. He felt his fears flow out and a warrior broke free inside him. It felt like he could do anything, unstoppable, fearless; death, pain, torture couldn't hold him back...

"Come on Akamaru,one more time..."

The two merged into a large two headed wolf.

"Dynamic Rotation!!"

They crashed into the two brothers causing the earth to rise and sound of bones cracking could be heard.

Kiba and Akamaru re-transformed to see Ukon lying on the floor separate from Sakon , completely crushed.

Sakon tried shakily to get on his feet but he was paralyzed.

"Shadow possession complete!" Shikamaru smirked.

Kiba limped towards Sakon,looking down at him with a stern glare, "who's in over their head now?"

Sakon hung his head, "I lost...pity,I wasn't strong enough."

Kiba flexed his sharpened claws, "if you behave I'll make it quick."

" Hm...thank you, "

With that Kiba sunk his claws into Sakon's throat,killing him.

————————

Naruto wakes up faster than a cat in ice-water, Drowsiness get's folks dead, fast. Only the paranoid survive. He fell asleep on a chair that was way to hard for comfort.

Looking around,he realized he was in Ino's hospital room. It's been three days since the fight with Sasuke,five since Tsunade healed her,yet Ino still hasn't woken up.

Kiba was recovering from Chakra exhaustion after his fight with Sakon and Tayuya stayed by his side.

As he reached into the medicine cabinet to get himself some ibuprofen,

Jiraiya spoke aloud, "You know you should get some proper rest,"

"Thanks but I'm fine," Naruto muttered thankfully.

"The least I can do for my little travel buddy," Jiraiya grinned from ear to ear before turning serious.

Hearing the words 'Travel Buddy,' made Naruto uneasy.

After the fight with Sasuke, Jiraiya had decided that he would be taking Naruto on a three year training trip around the land of fire.

At first being trained by a legendary Sannin seemed amazing but the thing was that Jiraiya was loyal to the leaf village. Naruto's loyalty to the leaf village started slipping the minute Ino ended up in this hospital and it was now completely gone after his fight with Sasuke.

Naruto didn't know how much longer be would remain a ninja of the leaf village.

"Can I ask why you were here?"

"Looking for a little peace and quiet, visiting Ino" Naruto said. "Mull things over in my head."

Naruto blinked. 'Mull? Since when in the hell have I used that word?'

Jiraiya looked particularly baffled, "you mean the blonde girl, in the bed." He asked looking over Ino.

His eyes showed the kind of gentle concern, "this the one you wanted Tsunade to save?"

" Yeah,why? "

Jiraiya shrugged, "how come she hasn't woken up yet?"

" Tsunade says she needs more time, "

Jiraiya's eyebrows creased and he frowned while looking at Ino.

"Hey why are asking these questions?! What's wrong?" Naruto asked nervously .

"It's nothing she just has a familiar face that's all,she doesn't happen to live near the woods does she?"

" the woods? No, why? "

"You sure? not even when she was younger,"

" What? No! "

"But she's the same age as you right, her eyes are blue?? "

Jiraiya's questions came out hurried and anxious making Naruto uneasy.

"I'm sure!" Then he stopped to think, " I guess we did camp out in the forest together with Kiba when we were in the academy. "

That memory was embarrassing, Ino had wandered off while they were sleeping and he and Kiba found her naked and covered in soot the next morning.

Jiraiya seemed to calm down, "is that so? I must've spotted her that time then,"

" we were like four, how do remember that, "

"Ninjas' never forget,"

Naruto glanced up at him with a disbelieving expression on his face before sticking his tongue out at him. Jiraiya's eye twitched.

"Come on kid, we're eating out."

...

It's scary how Naruto's first instinct when hearing 'eating out' was to go to Ichiraku Ramen,but when he arrived in all his haste he was met with rubble and dust. He forgot. The Ramen stan, Teuchi and Ayame-San had been destroyed in the invasion. Naruto stood staring, unable to move until Jiraiya places a hand on his shoulder and guided him to nearby lolli stand.

They split a blue one in half and sat silently on a bench until Naruto was ready to speak.

"Hey…Ero-sennin…can I ask you something?"

Naruto took notice when Jiraiya stopped mid-bite through his lolli as a curious look grazed his face at Naruto's seriousness for his preluding subject. "Go ahead," he answered.

"How do you determine what is right and what is wrong?" Naruto asked quietly and prayed for the wisdom he seeked from the wizened toad sage.

Jiraiya looked at him as though he was stupid, "Well when someone does something that negatively affects another person that is—."

"Let me rephrase that," Naruto interjected having not said his question right. "How do you determine…not really guilt and innocence…more like…?"

"Justice and betrayal?" Jiraiya asked unsurely trying to help the dilemma.

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled with a hint of thankfulness and relief.

Jiraiya looked up to the sky while scratching the bridge of his nose in quiet contemplation before replying with the utmost seriousness, "I honestly don't know Naruto. It's a question that has induced quandary to the masses since the dawning of time. What one man calls justice another may call betrayal. What one man calls betrayal another may call justice."

"Not helping…" Naruto sighed out of aggravation. "This has been bothering me for a while now…I'm trying to find the answer myself, but everything I come up with…I don't know…"

"Give me a 'for instance'," Jiraiya asked with an unusual amount of interest.

Naruto smiled at his understanding tone, "I made an acquaintance in the land of wave named Haku. He told me his story about his past and why he came around to protecting an enemy ninja that he was sided with…and I understood why he sided with that ninja…I understood his justice…even though I wanted to kill him for having nearly killed Sasuke…I couldn't deem him treacherous or villainous…"

"Continue," Jiraiya provoked.

"Not too long after that I met Gaara. He was a merciless killing machine. He could kill in the most barbaric ways imaginable with his power. I watched as he did all but dismember Lee without even flinching…and yet…when he told me his story…once again I found myself understanding of his sense of justice…I couldn't find it in myself to call him a bad guy.

"Let it all out," Jiraiya pushed him onward.

"And then Sasuke…" Naruto choked up a bit. "He betrayed this village for power…and yet when he told me why he was doing it…I could understand his reasoning…It didn't seem like betrayal in my opinion but…"

"You lost focus on what was driving you to bring him back and it worked against you," Jiraiya stated to which Naruto ashamedly nodded. "I know how that feels, kid. More than you could ever imagine.

Naruto would've mentioned Tayuya, the girl he only knew for a few months but felt like a sister to him, but he doubted Jiraiya could handle it.

A quiet silence waved the conversation away as a cool breeze pressed against them from the east blowing some of the tension off.

"Listen closely to me, Naruto," Jiraiya calmly answered, "I cannot tell you what is justice and what is betrayal. That is something that you have to learn for yourself. What I will tell you is that everyone has a story, a perspective, an ideal, a dream, and a heart. They are the things that mold a young boy into the man he will become. So you should be careful in where you place your trust."

Naruto nodded graciously before asking, "What if…where you place your trust leads you down a harsh road…?"

"No matter how harsh the road, if you are putting your trust in what you believe then you will have nothing to regret," Jiraiya grinned as a light bulb seemed to go off in his head. "That's it! Once again a conversation with you has struck gold for my next Icha Icha novel. God bless you boy!"

Naruto smiled happily for the first time since this whole episode of contemplation and confusion started. Finally, thankfully, he had come to a satisfactory conclusion to his problem. "Thanks for the advice, Ero-sennin."

Naruto and Jiraiya walked the serene path down to his apartment after their long talk . He had hoped that he would be able to try out some of the different sealing techniques he had learned from a book. The shadow clones he had reading books had finished not too long after the end of his conversation and poofed out of existence leaving Naruto with a massive headache and a new variety of techniques to try out. However fate seemed to have a different path set in stone for him.

As these thoughts drifted in and out of his head he made his way up the stairs to his apartment once again. A sudden chill crawled down his spine as a sudden breeze bristled by him. Upon opening the door to his apartment, Jiraiya pushed passed him and stormed through the house like a hooligan.

"What the?! Ero-sennin?!" Naruto yelled.

The pervy toad sage was now lying on his couch mumbling to himself in a stupor about his latest escapades that would help in bringing about the sequel in his Icha Icha Series.

"Oy hey Naruto! since I treated you so well today, Bring me your finest sake! You'll never believe what happened to me." Jiraiya slurred. For some strange reason his stupidity seemed to make him forget the fact that there was no way that Naruto would even get a hold of a bottle of sake. But then again…It was the pervy sage speaking…

"And she was like, 'I'm gonna kill you' and she brought me close to her chest and hugged me. I was so taken by her compassion that all the air left my body," Jiraiya laughed heartily at recounting the tale. Naruto just sat their looking at him dumbly.

"…Ero-sennin…I think she was probably strangling you…" Naruto commented at the sage's moment of mental retardation.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto for a second before he started laughing heartily. "Of course! Genius Naruto! That's the exact kind of eroticism I need in my book at the moment." He yipped happily as he took out a pocket notebook to write down this new idea. "I knew you wouldn't let me down. Our training trip is going to be a blast. I'll show you all the arts of seduction and—"

Jiraiya continued his ramblings as a guilty look began adorning Naruto's features.

"Hey…Jiraiya…I was wondering…can we hold off on the training trip for a little while longer?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Jiraiya seemed to sober up fairly quickly from the question (or maybe he was never actually drunk at all), "Why not?" He asked curiously. "Is there something you're worried about?"

"Well a lot's been going on," Naruto said quietly as he tried to find the words that could properly express his emotions. "I just need some time to think about everything…"

"And you can't do this during the trip?" Jiraiya inquired.

Naruto didn't really have an answer to that question that wouldn't get him into hot water, so instead decided on a half-truth, "Well I promised somebody that I'd train with her for a little while and—"

"With Her?" Jiraiya grinned wide like a Cheshire cat. "Well why didn't you say so sooner?! Who's the girl? When are you getting married? Have you done the dirty yet? When's the baby due?"

All these questions were coming straight from out of nowhere and each one was a little more embarrassing than the next…though he couldn't say for sure he knew what 'doing the dirty' was yet, it had to be embarassing if it came from Ero-sennin's mouth.

"Alright Ero-sennin, shut up," Naruto said with aggravation, "It's not even like that, we're just friends with lazy or in your case pervy teachers and thought we'd do a little training to get stronger!"

Jiraiya just nodded in a way that told Naruto that he was still thinking something perverted. "Okay if you say so, anyway I gotta go. I don't even know how I got here!" He laughed.

Naruto sweatdropped, "With any luck hopefully you'll have completely forgotten this crap by morning.

"Bah, that crap about not remembering stuff after being drunk is crap. Don't let somebody preach you that stuff," Jiraiya slurred happily.

"Whatever you say, Ero-sennin," Naruto sighed as he watched him walk out the door. "Whatever you say…"

The day had been a taxing one filled with lots of things to think about, and as Naruto lay on his bed he let all the ordeals of the day wash over him. Checked on Ino in the hospital, discussed worldly views of the village, and had a conversation with a drunken Jiraiya…all in all a pretty productive day.

With those thoughts crossing his mind his eyes swayed shut as the sandman (not Gaara) slowly ushered him into a deep sleep…

From outside Naruto's apartment, Jiraiya watched the boy carefully while making every observation possible about Naruto's demeanor.

"I think you take me for granted, kid," Jiraiya sighed. "I don't know what would make you want to cancel your own training trip, but I will make sure to find out."

With that said, Jiraiya left the young blonde to pleasant dreams.

back to Naruto's room_

Naruto didn't sleep long before he felt someone entering his room from the window, he jumped awake,grabbing a kunai from under his pillow only to sigh with relief when he saw Tayuya and Kiba climbing through.

"Guys! What are you doing here!?"

He noticed the bag Kiba had on his back and frowned.

"What's going on?"

" I know we all promised to stick together, but we really can't stay here anymore, " Kiba spoke.

"Your leaving! The two of you!? Together?"

" we thought you deserved a goodbye at least, " Tayuya said.

"Yeah an explanation would be good too," he yelled.

"Honest to god, it's because your village is such a shithole, not as big a shithole as my shithole, but a shithole none the less." Tayuya spat.

"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked even though he knew the answer,Sasuke had told him and he had seen it for himself.

Tayuya paused incredulously at the question and looked Naruto straight in the eyes. Her eyes were empty of any life they may have once held, void of all emotion. This look she was giving was nothing but the honest truth. A bitter smile slowly formed on her lips as she began speaking.

"like you don't already know. You aren't even allowed to leave this shithole unless you are on a mission. If you do you're automatically marked a traitor. Hell, I bet the only reason that shadow bastard was ordered to RETRIEVE Sasuke was because he's the last of his precious little clan. Normally your village would just have f*cking killed him on sight for such a betrayal.

Tayuya's words were replaying slowly inside Naruto's head. He couldn't think of any moment where a ninja had left the village outside of a mission. Nor did he have a proper rebuttal that could falsify Tayuya's opinions. What would have happened if he had brought back Sasuke? Would they have given him a slap on the wrist just like he said? Even after Neji ended up in the hospital and Chouji and Kiba himself were suffered?

"Also…this place is renowned for some of the most famous ninja, and yet they teach their students jack shit. Sharingan Kakashi probably knows over a thousand f*cking jutsus, and yet how many has he actually taught you?"

Hardly any…if any at all…even Sasuke had noticed this…was this why he left…? Sasuke's words were slowly resurfacing to his mind...

This Village is Setting us up for failure!

All of his thoughts…all of his fears…they were being reassured once again with each breath Tayuya took. More words were spoken, and not for the first time, Naruto began to realize something…

This village…is terrible!

"But what really f*cking pisses me off is your sense of justice," Tayuya drawled on and groaned utterly and her potty mouth.

"You assume as though every little thing you do is the right thing and then piss on other countries for having different beliefs. Seriously have you ever f*cking wondered how the great wars started? She asked.

"It began with a grudge between two countries and then two political leaders from those countries ended up arguing over their different outlooks. Then "boom," f*cking war breaks out leaving families separated and lives destroyed. All because the shit hit the fan between two long haired b*tches."

Naruto didn't really know what to say to that, but judging by the loneliness that reflected within Tayuya's eyes…he could tell that part of her own life story was hidden within her words. The room was silent for quite a while. Even Kiba didn't really seem to know what to say to any of the things being said.

"Hasn't it ever bothered you how biased we are , Konoha is cocky to the point where we consider ourselves the greatest Nation yet we let that Sasuke shit happen,we let an invasion happen right under noses TWICE!" Kiba interjected angrily.

"Tch." Tayuya rolled her eyes, "Is that what they taught you in your f*cking academy? How great you are? Big f*cking deal! So you've won all the wars you've ever been in and captured the greatest demon in the whole fucking land. I'll admit you've got a pretty tight army of elite ninjas with bloodlines and shit, but the truth is it's made you arrogant and cocky. The whole f*cking world is just begging to see Konoha get blown to hell after their cockiness makes them bite off a little more than they can chew."

"I mean seriously, come on, why the hell do you think the Sand betrayed their alliance with the Leaf in the first place." She asked sarcastically. "You're too f*cking arrogant for your own good. Thinking you're above everyone else. Thinking you can just sadistically do whatever the f*ck you want to get what you want. Like gods or some shit...It just f*cking sickens me…"

"You're right..." Naruto spoke , "the village isn't perfect but neither is the world , those other villages do the exact same things Konoha does,"

" Which is why I'm leaving! " Kiba exclaimed, "it's our goal remember; To Change The World! I can't do anything for the world if I'm trapped behind these walls,I have to go out and actually see what needs fixing! "

Tayuya scoffed beside him, "the way I see it,I don't owe the world anything,I'm just going with him because he promised anywhere is better than here."

" there's something I need to tell you guys..." Naruto said softly.

"What?"

" I let him go... "

"What?"

" during my fight with Sasuke,I let him go, "

"WHAT!?"

" You heard me! "

"But Why The Hell Would You Do That!!" Kiba yelled.

" because he said some things , he said the same things that You guys just said, and it got me thinking; Why do I have to go that far for him? Why do I have to go that far for this village? "

Kiba squirmed, "I guess I understand then."

Tayuya scoffed, "so what are you going to do when we leave?"

" I'm coming with you, "

"What!?" Kiba exclaimed .

"Aren't you tired of yelling?!" Tayuya snapped.

"I also want to change the world but to change it I need to see it,"

" what about your dream to be hokage?

"I only wanted that because I thought I needed to be hokage in order to change the world but I dont,in fact I can't, so I'm gonna live doing the things I want to do,"

" what do you wanna do? " Kiba asked.

Naruto smiled, "I wanna change the world, I wanna go to beach and see an actual dolphin,I wanna try new kinds of ramen and learn techniques from all over the world. I wanna live. "

"What about Ino?" Tayuya spoke, " should we wait for her then?"

"Ino Stays!" Naruto says quickly.

" What? Why? she'll wake up soon! "

"Ino's not like the three of us, she has a family that, unlike Kiba's, coddled and spoiled her, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth! She'll never survive outside of Konoha! " Naruto exclaimed.

"Then what do we do about the future without her help?"

" We'll figure it out. "

Tayuya scoffed,she didn't bother fighting Naruto because she knew the moment Ino woke up she would find them and Naruto would be very,very,sorry.


End file.
